Kessho no Tamashi: Orange Aeon
by KJman456
Summary: AU.  A young boy moves to Japan with the thought of a new life in mind. But when he arrives, he gets more that he asks for, in the form of a giant dragon in his head and this strange feeling he gets around an idol. SOMETHING NEW WILL BE COMING YOUR WAY.
1. Prologue

_**(IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL THAT READ:**_

**Yeah, so, I decided to just take a glance at these few chapters I already put up here, and I noticed a **_**shitload**_** of errors and spelling mistakes. So I decided to just fix all that, while changing maybe one or two unimportant things. Sorry!)**

**Good day everyone who bothered to read this. I've not posted a story or chapter in a long time, but that's because I got bored easily. Not only that, but all my other stories were junk. **_**That's**_** because I never thought enough about them. I'd always just make them off the top of my head.**

**Not this time, though. I've thought a lot about this stuff, and I'm confident I can make a lot of progress in this story. Hopefully as you read this I'll be working on another chapter.**

**By the way, I eventually plan to move this to the crossover sections because there **_**will**_** be other worlds visited. It's just that the story starts out in the Persona world.**

**Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's start.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OC, Andrew Ricketts, and the premise of this whole thing. If I owned anything else, I'd be one rich bastard.**

**

* * *

~June 5th~**

**~10:43 AM~**

* * *

Trains are cool.

I say this because I've never been on a train before, let alone a monorail. It's not as bumpy as a car ride, and you don't even have to wear seatbelts! Also, I got a nice view of the countryside as the train made its way to its destination.

That destination is some small town called Inaba. It's not a very big place, but I don't mind that - I'd rather live in the country than the city. It's nice and quiet and you don't have skyscrapers obstructing the view of the night sky. Just looking at the stars makes me smile, for some reason or another.

...Oh. I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? My name is Andrew Ricketts and I'm fifteen years old. I have short brown hair and green eyes. What I'm wearing now consists of an orange shirt, grey, baggy shorts and white sneakers.

By the way, I'm not Japanese (though you probably figured that out already). I'm actually Canadian, but I've come to Japan because I wanted to. See, my parents figured it would be best to send me out to wherever I wanted while I was young. They figured experiencing things at a young age was a good way to live and learn. So, here I am, going to an unknown town in an unknown part of Japan while my folks are on the other side of the world.

It's alright, though, 'cause I'm not defenceless. If anyone tries to come and beat the crap outta me, I'll do the same thing. I'm not exactly strong, but I know how to fight. Well, not really, I just feel like I know how to fight. I've fought my brother a couple of times, and he plays a lot of hockey, so he's pretty strong. I also took some karate classes a few years ago, and whenever I was bored back home I used to bench press (65 lbs. always made me tired).

Enough about me, though. You guys are probably bored right now.

A tunnel suddenly enveloped the train. I could only see darkness from the window, but thankfully the lights were still on in the train. I closed my eyes since there was nothing better to look at, and imagined what my first day at school might be like.

...Knowing my luck, I'd probably trip up on my way to the desk and land on top of some girl. That would be pretty embarrassing.

The tunnel ended and I got to see more of the landscape. It wasn't any different than before the giant land hole - just a plain field with a few hills farther back. Then we went over a lake on a bridge. I saw some fish jumping out of the water and smiled, chuckling to myself. I settled myself in and listened to the new songs as they played.

Before I knew it, the train stopped. I removed one of the ear buds and listened. I heard the dude on the intercom telling us that we'd arrived at Yasoinaba station. I, too, stood up, retrieved my bag from the overhead compartment and made my way out of the train.

I stopped to look around as I exited the station. Most of the passengers were already off while some were just exiting the station. A few of them were on their cells, talking to other people for a ride, most likely. I saw a child run up to her father and gave him a big hug as her mother came after her and gave the dad a kiss. Some other people were just leaving the station, already knowing where to go.

I, on the other hand, took out a map of Inaba from my bag. My parents decided to put a map in my bag so I don't get lost. They even thought of drawing a line to where I was supposed to go. The name next to the end of the line was "Amagi Inn." I had figured that I'd be staying in the school dorms, but supposedly there _were_ none. I had figured that most of the towns in Japan had school dorms, but that just shows how much I know about the country.

And so I was on my through the town. I followed my map through the central shopping district, which had a bunch of different stores. The map said to get on the bus to the inn, so I did as it said and waited.

It was about ten minutes before the bus arrived. As I got on it, I half expected the driver to ask me why I wasn't in school, but then I remembered it was Sunday. I paid the fee and made my way to the back of the bus and sat down.

I looked out the window to see the sights. Nothing too interesting, just a few houses and streets. After a few more minutes, the bus stopped. The inn was just outside, so I got up and exited the bus. I yawned and stretched, then entered the inn.

The inn wasn't really what I was expecting. Of course, I was thinking it'd be something like the inns from North America. The entrance was Japan's typical lowered floor with the main floor in front of it. Unlike houses though, this one was fairly bigger. To my left were cubby holes for the guest's shoes. I removed my shoes and placed them in an empty spot and made my way to the counter.

From where the door to outside was, the front desk was straight ahead. To the left of it was a hallway that had the bottom floor rooms on it, and to the right end was the doorway to the Dining Room. Beside the receptionist desk were two doors, one with a picture of a male on it and a female on the other. The sign above the doors read 'Hot Springs.'

I walked towards the counter. A women who seemed to be in her 30s or 40s was behind the desk writing something down. She looked up at me and smiled, "Welcome to the Amagi Inn," she said with a small bow, "How can I help you?"

I smiled back and said, "I have a room reserved here. It's under the name Andrew Ricketts."

"Is that you?"

"Yes, it is."

The woman seemed to hesitate, "And...how old are you, now?"

"Fifteen. I'll be turning sixteen on September 17th."

She blinked a couple more times, "One second now." She turned to the computer that I failed to notice and typed something in. "Aren't you a little young to be traveling on your own?" she asked without looking from the monitor.

"My friends said that too, but my parents insisted that I go see the world while I'm young," I replied.

The woman chuckled, "Ah, of course. Seeing the world while you're young is always a pleasant experience. Where are you from?"

"Canada."

She looked at me with wide eyes, "And you're parents allowed you to come here by yourself?"

"Well, they're too busy working and stuff, plus they trust me a lot and know that I'm able to live by myself for a while."

The woman seemed to chuckle at that statement, "That sounds like a friend of the manager's daughter." She must've seen my confused face, since she continued, "From what she tells me, he moved here because his parents had to go far away for work, so he's staying with his uncle and cousin. She's almost always spending time with him. In fact..." She looked around the lobby for a second, then leaned in closer to me, "there's a rumor going around about them being in a relationship."

I did not know why this lady was telling me a rumor about two people I've never even met, but I didn't want to be rude and ignore her, "Is that so?" I asked, "I never heard about that. But if this rumor's true, I wish them the best of luck."

"As do I," the woman said. She finished typing on the computer and handed me a key she got from somewhere. "Well, I hope you have a wonderful stay in Inaba, sir."

I took the key with a thanks and walked away.

* * *

I slid the door over and looked around the room. There were only the basic necessities that one would have in a room at an inn, such as a bed, TV, fridge and a phone.

I set my travel bag next to the futon and turned on the TV as I unpacked. It turned on to the weather channel, and according to it, we're to see some clear and rainy days.

I had nothing better to do, so I took my cell from out of my bag and called up my folks. Luckily, I was able to reach them (it's really hard to get a hold of them since they work a lot). They told me that they were relieved I made it to Inaba safely. They then instructed me to go out and buy some things for supper, then find the path to the school so that I don't get lost. I'll be starting school tomorrow, so I guess I should know where to go.

I got a few packages of instant noodles, some ingredients for school lunches, and some drinks for the coming week, and followed my map to the school, drawing a line from there to the inn. There were still a few people out around, and when I walked by they seemed to look at me with curiosity. Was it because of my height? I am pretty tall for my age (5'10'', or as the Japanese would say 177cm), and it probably isn't normal to see such a towering person here.

When I returned to my room, it was late; around six o'clock. I guess walking around Inaba takes a long time, especially if you're concentrating on a map. So I popped a package of noodles into the microwave, sat at the table and turned on the tube.

"I start school tomorrow, so I gotta get to bed on time..." I said to myself. Yeah, I usually talk to me whenever no one's around. It makes me feel less lonely.

I was flicking through the channels as I slurped my noodles and, deeming all the other shows as lame (there's _never_ any good shows on on Sundays, even in Japan), I turned on the news. Apparently there had been a case involving the disappearance of a first-year high school student, but he had been found a couple of weeks ago. Why that would still be talked about, I don't know. The news also said it could be linked to another kidnapping case about a month or two ago, and two murders that happened in April.

I decided not to give it any more thought. Thinking about things like murders and such always made my skin crawl. How someone can willingly take the life of another is beyond me. I rolled out the futon and settled in it. I didn't care that it was only seven-thirty, the train ride and walking around was tiring. Making sure to set my alarm clock, I let sleep take over me.

**

* * *

...And that concludes Chapter 1. Not a lot of talking here, just an introductory and such. To whoever bothered to read the whole thing, I'd appreciate it if you left a comment or review or something like that. Also, I'd like it if you'd find any flaws or mistakes I may have made and point them out to me.**

**Thank you, and please come again!**


	2. Unexpected Fame

_**IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL**_

**Yeah, just some more revisions. Enjoy!**

**Good day! I'm (surprisingly) back again with the second chapter!**

**I was shocked to see how many people reviewed the last chapter. I would've never expected that the last chapter was actually **_**good**_**.**

**One more thing! Just to let you guy's know, I realized I had written 'Andrew's POV' at the beginning of last chapter, but I've decided to take it out. Andrew's point of view is the only one we're going to be listening to (or reading, or whatever), so there was no need to have that there.**

**Anywhos and stuff, read on.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OC, Andrew Ricketts. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is owned by Atlus. If I were part of Atlus, I would be a rather mellow fellow. **

**

* * *

~June 6th~**

**~6:00AM~**

* * *

Damn alarm clocks ruinin' mah dreams.

I lazily raised an arm to shut the darned thing off. I slammed my hand and missed it, most likely waking the whole inn in the process.

Screw you, clock.

Once I stopped the alarm, I did my normal morning routine (shower, food, teeth, clothes, go), and made my way to school. I vaguely remembered the route I took to get to the school yesterday, so I had to refer to my map every now and again. Thankfully as I neared the school I noticed a couple of students turning from an adjacent street. I put the map away and followed them to the school.

The school itself wasn't overly impressive, but I did like the big gates that were in front of it. I walked inside the school to see four sets of shoe lockers. I didn't know what I should do, so I decided to just slip my own pair on and carry my outdoor ones in my hand until I get a locker.

I found the faculty office with little difficulty, and approached a random teacher and told them I was new.

"Oh, so you're that new transfer student," the teacher said. She looked a little weird; it was probably that Egyptian hat and stick-thing she had. "You're a first-year student, so I'm not the person you should talk to. You'll want to speak with... Oh, there she is."

Another woman entered the room. She had purple eyes and flowing golden hair, which was kinda odd in Japan. She was wearing a purple business suit and pants, as well as a pair of glasses. Actually, she looked little young. She also seemed somewhat familiar, but I couldn't think of a reason why.

"There you are," she said with a smile, "I'm Ms. Omukay, you're homeroom teacher." She looked at a sheet that she was holding, "According to this, you're here on a trip for a few years, correct?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I just got into town yesterday."

"I see," she said. "Well, let's be on our way. You'll be in homeroom 1-A." She turned around and exited the room, and I followed.

* * *

"Class, we have a new transfer student joining us today," Ms. Omukay called out to the chatty class. Not very many people listened to her as they continued to talk amongst each other. I could tell the teacher was getting angrier by the second despite the smile she was wearing.

Suddenly Ms. Omukay slammed her hand on her desk rather loudly, which caused me and everyone else in the room to jump. When everyone shut up, Ms. Omukay spoke again. "That's better." Her smile returned. "As I was saying, we have a new transfer student joining our class today." She turned to me, "Please introduce yourself."

I was dreading this part. You may not have known this, but I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to speaking to a group. Not so much when it's one or two people, but when there's a bunch around, I pretty much break down.

"Um... M-my name is Andrew Ricketts. My Japanese isn't p-perfect, so please b-bear with me." I did a slight bow and stepped back.

The teacher began scanning the class to find a seat. Her eyes lit and said, "There's an empty seat right in the back, right next to Tatsumi-kun. He's the tall one with the bleached hair."

I looked to where she was pointing and sure enough, there was a rather tall fellow with white hair at the end of the middle row. He didn't seem to be listening to what Ms. Omukay was saying, since his chin was in his hand and he was looking out the window.

"A-_hem_," Ms. Omukay cleared her throat to try to get his attention. It didn't work. "Tatsumi-kun!" she cried out.

The boy in question quickly looked at the teacher. He blinked a few times. "Uh...what?" he asked hesitantly. Snickers from the other classmates were heard, but they stopped as he looked at them angrily.

Ms. Omukay sighed. "Tatsumi-kun, you must pay attention from now on." She placed a hand on my shoulder, "I said this boy will be sitting next to you. Please try not to scare him off like you did the others."

Wait, what.

Tatsumi scoffed, "Sure, whatever."

I was a little scared to go back there now, but after a push from Ms. Omukay I was on my way. There were a few people whispering as I walked to the back, but the teacher silenced them. I hung my school bag on the hook and sat down.

_This guy sure looks intimidating..._ I thought as I glanced over to him. He seemed to be lost in thought again since he was just staring at the chalkboard out of focus. I tried to concentrate on what Ms. Omukay was going on about, but just being next to this guy made me quiver.

This is gonna be one hell of a day.

* * *

Actually, it wasn't, really. Honestly, the worst part was lunch time where I had no one to hang out with. Also, I tried to start a conversation with that Tatsumi guy. Apparently his first name is Kanji (which is also a way to write in Japan) and that his mother was the one who runs the Textile Shop in the shopping district. He also glared at me after saying that, probably because he thought I would've laughed.

Well, honestly, I _was_ holding back a giggle. I mean, seriously, this guy looks like he's a part of a friggin' biker gang. And he helps out at a cloth shop. It was kinda creepy. But if I said that, I most likely would've ended up on the floor with a broken nose.

That's all that he said to me. After that he just went back to staring into space. I decided to play it safe and just keep my trap shut.

Right now I'm on my way back to my room at the inn. I got my tunes turned up and my eyes out in front of me, just lost in thought about this and that. Right now, I'm listening to Emotional Skyscraper. I don't care what people think about it, it's a great song for a final boss.

Sadly, the song ended. I was about to get my iPod out of my pocket to replay the song when I heard a little voice.

"Mr. Kitty, come down from there!" the voice cried out. Removing an ear bud from my ear, I followed the voice with my eyes. A little ways away from the road was a small girl looking up into a tree. She had brown hair tied in twin tails, and had a white, pink, orange and brown sweater-dress-thing. Her voice seemed distressed, and by the look of her face she seemed a little worried.

A faint meow (or nyan, as the Japanese like to call it) was heard, and I could barely make out a brown cat lying on a tree branch.

Being the animal lover that I am, I walked over to the little girl. "Is everything okay?" I asked upon arrival.

I guess she never saw me coming, because she jumped at my voice. She tried to avoid my eyes when I looked at her, and she started rubbing her hands together.

"Are you alright?" I asked again, now a tad concerned.

"Uhh... Dad says I shouldn't talk to strangers..." the girl quietly replied.

_And yet you just did._ I chuckled and said, "My name's Andrew Ricketts. Nice to meet you," I bowed a bit to her, then smiled, "There. We're not strangers anymore, are we?"

The girl looked at me a little bit, then started giggling, "I guess you're right," she said. "My name's Nanako Dojima. I was trying to get that cat down out of this tree, but it won't listen..." She looked up again, and I did as well.

"Is it your cat?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No, it's not. But I can't just leave it up there. I'll feel bad if I do."

I grinned. This is where the skills from climbing that big tree in my backyard came into play. "Don't worry," I told her. I laid my school bag (actually it was more like a suit case or something) against the tree and tugged on the lowest branch. "I'll get the cat down for you."

"You will?" Nanako practically screamed.

"Yep. Just you wait." Gripping the branch tightly, I pulled myself up on it, then reached out for another one. I kept going up and up, making sure to watch my footing as I climbed. There was one time where my foot slipped and Nanako gasped, but I managed to fix my positioning and maintained balance.

Another few branches and I made it to where the cat was. I reached my hand out to it, as if it would grab on to it. "Here, kitty kitty." I said softly, and I whistled a bit to see if it would come over. Surprisingly, it edged its way over to my hand and sniffed it. I was half expecting it to simply bite my hand, but it trusted me enough to actually jump on my shoulder.

It then dug its claws into me. By God, the pain.

I was able to reach the ground faster than I was able to get up to the top, and as soon as I hit the bottom, the cat leapt off me. It looked at me, as if saying thanks, then calmly walked away.

"Wow, you really did it!" Nanako shouted, astonished. She watched the cat walk away, and turned to me, "How did you get so good?"

"At what, climbing trees?" I asked. She nodded, "There used to be a big tree near my old home, and I'd always used to climb it whenever I was outside."

"Did you ever reach the top of it?"

I sighed, "Sadly, no. It was too high for me to go up. I could only go as far as I thought I should go."

"You could only go as far as..." Nanako said in thought, "...I don't really get it."

"Oh, uh..." That's right, stupid me. She's like, five or six, she's not gonna know what I mean. "I mean, I knew I shouldn't go very high, but whenever I tried to go up to the top, I'd always... chicken out?"

"Ohhhh..." Realization must've hit her, "Okay!" She exclaimed with a smile. She looked at the sky and that smile disappeared, "Oh, no! I was so caught up in this that it's gotten really late!"

I looked up at the sky as well, but I didn't see any difference than when school got out. It was most likely because she was a elementary student and school finished earlier for her.

"I have to get home and clean the laundry!" Nanako took her bag off the ground and started to run away. "Thanks again, mister!" she called back with a wave.

I waved back, too. "No problem." When she was out of sight, I looked back at the tree. Climbing a tree brought back a lot of memories. A lot of good ones and painful ones. "I can still remember the first time I fell out of that tree."

I figured it was best to get back to the inn now, so I made my way back to the road. But soon after doing so, I noticed that there seemed to be people watching me. They were, again, whispering to each other about something.

"Uh..." I started, but a woman walked up to me.

"You're that boy from Canada right?" She asked. "The one who's staying at the inn by himself?"

"Uh..."

"Oh yeah, I heard of you." A man walked up this time, "My wife said that she heard there was a kid here without his parents."

A few more people came up to me, saying things like, 'Yep, that's him alright,' and 'I didn't think he was so kind.'

"But... How do you know about me?" I asked. It was a little creepy how suddenly the whole town seemed to know about me.

An old man laughed, "You really are from out of town, aren't you? News travels fast in a small town like Inaba. I wouldn't be surprised if half the town started to talk about you."

Oh, wow, compliments. I felt pretty good, "No, I doubt many people will talk about me. I'm nothing special."

"Nonsense!" A woman said, "You went out of your way to help that little girl. You knew you could've fallen and hurt yourself, but you went up anyway and got that cat for her."

Crap, more people coming. Breaking-down-in-front-of-crowds powers activate. "I-I would've helped anyone."

That got the people talking. I heard someone say, "He's a really helpful boy." For some reason, I felt my cheeks burn. I hastily said my farewells to them and retreated back to my inn room.

* * *

I was thinking about what happened throughout the day as I laid down in bed. My prediction of my first day of school thankfully did not come true, and I got praised and thanked for getting a cat out of a tree. A little weird, if you ask me. I just got into town yesterday and already people are talking about me.

I yawned, suddenly realizing what time it was. Another day at school, another attempt to make friends.

* * *

**Chapter 2 is done. I wonder how this one will be?**

**I realize that this one may seem a little rushed, but I couldn't think of any other reason. I wouldn't be able to make Andrew's dungeon on a month without an in-game kidnapping, so I had ****to put it right after Kanji's dungeon.**

**Oh, and another original character (the teacher)! ...Or is she?**

**ALSO, IMPORTANT NOTE 'N STUFF**

**The thing is, I posted this story a few days before I'm moving. My family and I are actually going cross country, and we're going in an automobile. So that means six days sitting in a car. **

**Yikes. I also didn't have much time to check over this. Sorry.**

**So, as you may have guess, I won't be able to update for at least a week. I'll try to work on chapter 3 while in hotels, but I won't have that much time.**

**Anyway, I wish to see some reviews or comments when I check my e-mails. If there are none, I'm sending Mara after you. And you DON'T want to deal with Mara. **


	3. Interviewee

**Argh.**

**I hate traveling cross-country. My ass is sore.**

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC, Andrew Ricketts. Persona 4 belongs to Atlus. If I owned Atlus I would be in the process of making this story into a game.**

**

* * *

~June 7th~**

**~12:04 PM~**

* * *

Ah, lunch. The time of day where I sit in my desk and eat away at my adequately made food, all by my lonesome. I would've spent lunch with my friends, but...right now I ain't got any.

As I ate, I heard some voices behind me. Whoever was talking was saying something about some rumor involving a turned-off television, rain, and midnight. Something about your soul mate appearing on the screen, although someone else said that they've seen at least four different people on it.

"Hey, new guy." Someone called out to me. I looked back to see two guys leaning on the wall. "Have you tried out the Midnight Channel yet?"

I blinked. Didn't he know I have a name? "Is that the one about the TV and rainy nights or something?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Have you watched it yet?"

"No, I haven't. I only heard about it just then."

"Oh," the guy on the left said. "Well, it works. I tried it out a few times a couple of months ago, and I think one of our senpai were on it."

"I watched it once, too," the other one said. "But Tatsumi was on it, and he was practically stark naked. I've never looked at him the same way again."

I just stared at the guy. That was something I really didn't need to know.

"If I remember to do so, I'll watch it sometime." I said as I turned back to my meal.

"You can watch it tonight. It's raining out." The guy behind me said.

I looked outside. It was indeed raining out. Guess I completely forgot about it, "Huh. Would you look at that." I turned back to those two guys, "I guess I'll give it a try tonight, then." And then I resumed my meal.

When it was all gone, I disposed of the trash and walked around the hallways for lack of anything better to do. The school wasn't very big - three long corridors on different levels for each of the grades, and a separate building for the different clubs. Plus a gym, but every school had on of those. It was similar to my old school, except there were only two floors of straight hallway for roughly 700 students.

It was roughly five minutes to the end of lunch, so I decided to make my way back to class.

"Excuse me, Ricketts-san?"

I looked over to where the voice came from. Another student was standing on the steps leading to the second-year floor. Taking this into account, I figured he was one of my many senpai. He had grey hair (strangely) in a bowl-like haircut and grey eyes. He was wearing the school's uniform, like everyone was, except his wasn't zipped up. He looked...badass.

"Uh, yes?" I asked.

He came down the rest of the stairs and said, "My name is Souji Seta. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you meet a little girl yesterday evening?"

Huh? Why would he want to know that? "Uh, yeah I did. Her name was Nanako... I think."

"Yes, that's her," Souji replied. "She's my little cousin."

"Oh!" _Now_ it made sense...kind of. "Yeah, I helped her get a cat down out of a tall tree. She said it wasn't hers, but she wanted to help it anyway."

"That's what she told me last night," He told me. "She was very happy because of it."

"Oh, really?" Strange. "It wasn't much. I just got it down from the tree..."

"Kanji also told me about you. He said you were trying to start a conversation with him."

Oh, yeah. "That's right... I got seated next to him, so I tried to be friendly... But things got a little awkward. ...Wait, you know Kanji?"

"Yeah. We met at Junes one day."

"I see... He didn't seem all that talkative to me. He'd just stare into space, and jump whenever the teachers call out to him."

Suddenly the warning bell rang. "Ah, I have to go now. Thank you, Ricketts-san." He began to ascend the stairs.

"Ah, wait a sec," I called out. He stopped and turned to me. "Why'd you suddenly started talking to _me_? I'm no one special..."

Souji smiled. "I just wanted to meet you. You helped my little sister, after all, so I wanted to see what kind of person you are." He returned to climbing the steps and disappeared behind them. I shrugged and returned to my homeroom as well.

* * *

The afternoon classes were of history and math. The math was easy, as I've always excelled in numbers, but since I didn't know Jack and Jill about Japan's history, I got the teacher's question wrong. She didn't seem disappointed, thankfully, but I didn't feel any smarter because of it.

On my way home, a van suddenly pulled up next to me. I saw the local news channel insignia on the side of it, and was surprised when the window rolled down.

"You're Andrew Ricketts, the high schooler who moved here from Canada by himself, right?" The reporter asked immediately.

I was taken back at his bluntness. "Uh, yeah?"

"Then you also helped out a little girl yesterday as well, right?"

Where was he going with this? "Uh...yeah?"

"Would you allow me to conduct an interview with you?"

Now _that_ was strange. No, scratch that. _Japan _was strange. Rumors every which way; students with bleached hair and piercings; second-years who want to meet you at random...

"What's this interview about?" I asked him.

He told me that it was about today's students, how some are selfish and like to bully others for the sake of doing so. He said he wants to interview me because, apparently, I'm a good example of a high schooler who's willing help out strangers at a moment's notice.

Well, I guess that's true. My folks said I was a ridiculously nice person.

I agreed to do so, but he asked for us to get out of the rain. I suggested the Amagi Inn, so he offered me a ride.

When we got there, the reporter asked me different questions, like, 'Why I helped her' and 'Would I help anyone else?' I answered, 'She looked upset about something, so I decided to see what was wrong,' and 'Of course I would, if they needed help.'

When the interview ended, the reporter thanked me, and he and the cameraman left.

* * *

That night in my room, I was watching TV. I was flicking through the channels, doubting that the interview would be shown. I came across the news channel, and was shocked to see that the heading on the screen read "How Students Should Act." The news anchormen said things related to that, but it really wasn't that important.

Then I saw myself on TV.

_Damn, that _was _fast._ I thought. It was only, say, two hours since the interview, and they already managed to get it on the air. The interview itself was pretty much the same, but they cut out a couple parts, apparently not needing whatever was said. In all honesty, I never thought that the story was good enough to be shown. I didn't think that there was enough material to have it on TV.

When the interview ended, I decided to crawl into the futon, but I remembered what those classmates were saying about the Midnight Channel thing. So I regrettably decided to stay up till midnight (regrettably because I was EFFIN' TIRED).

* * *

Dude.

It worked.

I saw some guy on the TV, but it was all blurry 'n stuff. I could tell he was tall, but that was it. No facial features, no hair color, or anything like that. But just as soon as it appeared, the guy went away.

...Wait, does that mean my soul mates a dude?

...

I don't think I'll be falling asleep tonight.

**

* * *

Ah, about time. Just to let you guys know, there's a chance I won't be able to update every day. Like I said, we're going cross country, and throughout the trip I won't have good internet connection. So don't be surprised if you don't see a new chapter soon.**

**Reviews and criticism are welcome!**


	4. New Friends

**My cross country trip's going okay, not liked anyone asked. XP**

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC, Andrew Ricketts. Persona 4 belongs to Atlus.**

**

* * *

~June 8th~**

**~8:30AM~**

* * *

Contrary to what I said last night, I actually did fall asleep. But that sure was creepy, seeing someone on a turned off TV. And to think that guy may be my soul mate...ugh.

I got a few greetings on the way to and inside the school. I never realized so many people watched the news, especially high school students.

I was in my seat, waiting for the class to begin, when Kanji suddenly started talking.

"Hey, uh, are you free today?" He asked.

_Right to the point..._ "Yeah, I've got nothing going on after school. Why?"

"I was just wonderin' if you wanted to hang out today. I, uh, noticed you by yourself the last few days and figured you must be pretty lonely."

Well, it's true I haven't actually hung out with anyone since I came here. And since Kanji was the one who asked me, I figured he wasn't such a bad guy. "Alright then," I said. "Beats walking back to my room and watching TV."

"Okay, cool," Kanji grinned, though he also seemed a bit relieved. "I got some other friends that'll come with us, if that's okay."

"Yeah, totally." Before we could say anything else, Ms. Omukay came into the room and took attendance.

* * *

After school, Kanji and I walked to the shoe lockers. We were slipping on the shoes when three more people walked up to us.

"So, you're that Canadian guy," the male of the group said. Did I seriously not have a name here? "I'm Yosuke Hanamura."

A girl in green spoke up, "I'm Chie Satonaka. Nice to meet ya!"

The last member, another female in red, said, "My name's Yukiko Amagi. It's nice to meet you as well."

"Likewise. I'd tell you my name, but I'm sure you already know it," I said, bowing slightly. She did the same, and the former two hastily followed. Then something struck. "Wait a sec, 'Amagi'? As in, the Amagi Inn?"

"Yes," Yukiko replied. "My family runs it, and...I'll be taking it over soon."

"Seriously?" I asked, "I have a room there!"

"Whoa, really? Small world." Yosuke sounded surprised. "How are you able to afford the room?"

"My parents are gonna start sending me money from time to time," I answered, "though I'm going to have to go out and change it to yen every time..."

"Wait, your parents _send it_ to you?" Chie asked. "So you live by yourself?"

"Yeah. The news report said that last night," Yosuke told her.

"I told you already, I missed that! I had to do the laundry."

"By the way, where's Souji-kun?" Yukiko asked. So Souji IS part of this group. "I thought he was going to be meeting us here."

"Oh, he will be, later," Chie replied. "Mr. Morooka made him go do something at the Nurse's Office or something."

"Who?" I asked.

"What, you don't know him?" Chie asked. She looked behind her, then leaned in close and said, "He's our homeroom teacher, but he's a really big jerk. We students gave him the nickname King Moron."

"Huh, really," I mused, "Don't the other teachers know about him?"

"We think they do, but they don't pay much attention to it." Yukiko said.

"Hey, could we get going already?" Kanji spoke up, "I don't really want to spend much longer here..."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Yosuke said. He turned to me, "Where do you wanna go?"

"I get to decide?" I asked, and my senpai nodded. I thought about it long and hard. And after about a second, "I've never been to Junes yet."

"Alright then, Junes it is!" Chie declared, and marched out the door with the rest of us following.

* * *

"Whooooooooa. Dude, this place is big." I stared in awe at the holiness that is Junes.

"Eh, there are bigger stores out there," Yosuke said.

"Well, it's easily one of the biggest places in Inaba," Yukiko said. "Next to the school and the inn, of course."

"You got that right. It's practically eating up the other, smaller businesses here." Chie sighed, "Soon enough, Aiya is going to close down because of this place."

"C'mon, let's go inside already, it's friggin' cold out here." Kanji started walking to the sliding door.

"What's with him?" I asked.

"He just wants the food they serve here," Yosuke sighed. "Alright, let's go in."

* * *

"Is it just me, or does this place seem bigger on the inside then out?" I asked.

"Hmm, it must be just you," Yukiko said. "I don't see any difference at all."

"Hey, do they sell video games here?"

"Yep."

"Then that's where we're going." I started off in a random direction.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Chie called out.

"Nope!"

* * *

"Huh, pretty nice TVs," I said as we past that part of the store. There were a bunch of flat screens hanging on the walls. They were all showing the same program except for one, which was turned off.

"Yep, they are. Now let's go." Yosuke said quickly before pushing us onward.

* * *

"There are more games here than I expected." I said, mostly to myself. Practically an entire wall was covered with them, ranging from the consoles to the handhelds. "Sucks that I hardly have enough money to get one."

"The best way to get money is to get a job," Yosuke said. "I, for example, work here."

"Really?" I turned to him. "Are you guys hiring now?"

"Ahh, I don't think right now, but soon we will." He replied. "Definitely when summer vacation starts. I'll make sure to leave a spot open for you."

"Ah, thanks, senpai!"

* * *

"I've been wondering this for a bit now..." I said. We were sitting down at a table in an outdoor food court, munching idly on some food. "But why are you guys constantly looking around?" I glanced at Kanji, who was stuffing his face with steak, "I mean, the three of you." They seemed to be a bit hesitant.

"Oh, uhh... We're just waiting for Souji." Chie answered. "That guy can pop up out of nowhere sometimes."

"Oh, hey, speak of the devil," Yosuke said, pointing to the elevators.

We all looked towards the elevators to see Souji walk over to us. "Yo," He said, waving to us.

"Yo, partner!" Yosuke called out. "Glad you could join us."

"That was faster than I thought," Chie said as Souji sat down. "I figured King Moron would make you stay the whole day."

"Actually, the other students let me come back," Souji replied. "I also got the chance to find out that Saki-senpai's younger brother hates us." He said that part to Yosuke.

"Ouch, seriously?" Yosuke winced. "I wouldn't be surprised if her entire family hates my guts."

"Hmm?" I looked between the two second-years. "Who?"

"Oh, right, you don't know." Yosuke explained that a senior student, Saki Konishi, had previously worked at Junes, and that one night she was apparently killed by someone.

"Killed?" I asked in shock. "You mean, murder? Someone purposefully took her life?" My eyebrows furrowed. "What kind of sick bastard would do that?"

"We don't know..." Yukiko replied. "We want to know the truth, but it's not like anyone will tell us..."

"Not only that, but the police aren't able to dig up any dirt on this stuff." Kanji, who actually seemed to be listening, spoke up. "It makes me sick, thinking that the culprit's gonna get away."

"It's actually pretty hard to get any evidence on this case," Souji said. "I heard my uncle say one night that there wasn't anything on her body that could show how she died."

"Hey," I said, getting everyone's attention. "Mind if we stop talking about this? I'm getting all depressed n' stuff..."

Everyone just nodded awkwardly. It was silent for a bit until I yawned, "Hmm. Kinda tired." I absently rubbed my eye.

"What, you never slept good?" Chie inquired.

"No, I just stayed up late to watch that Midnight Channel thing. Turns out it's real." The others remained silent and looked among themselves. "Uh...guys?"

"Oh! S-sorry." Yukiko apologised, "It's nothing."

"...Uh-huh..."

"S-so! Andrew-kun!" Chie nearly shouted. Wait, 'kun?' "Why don't you tell us about yourself? I mean, we hardly know anything about you."

"Well, let's see... I come from a city called Toronto, which is in a province called Ontario. It's a lot bigger than Inaba, but I think I prefer it here. It's small and cozy."

"I know what you mean." Souji said, "It's a lot more peaceful than the busy cities."

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'peaceful'..." Kanji said quietly. The others seemed to glared at him for bringing that up again.

"Moving along..." Yosuke sighed, "Nothing...weird's happened to you recently, has there?"

"Huh? Weird?" I looked at him strangely, "I'm not really sure I know what you mean, senpai."

"Like, um, were there any weird people approaching you over the last few days?"

"Uhm... Other than the townsfolk wanting to meet me and the news reporter, no, nobody's said anything 'weird' to me."

"Oh... I see." Yosuke seemed to be relieved of something. Not sure what.

"By the way, Andrew-kun, when did you learn Japanese?" Yukiko asked. "You seem a little young to be fluent in two languages..."

Oh, goodness. "Uh, it's a bit embarrassing, but it was over the past couple of years." I rubbed the back of my head. "It mostly came from watching anime, but I taught myself some of the harder parts, like how to form sentences and stuff."

"Ooh, you taught yourself? Impressive!" Chie said. "It'd take me a hundred years before I can speak a proper sentence in English."

"I'd be happy to teach you, if you need any help with it," I offered.

"No no, that's okay!" She waved her hands in front of her. "I don't want to trouble you or anything."

"Nah, it's totally alright. I don't have anything else on the go after school, anyway." I munched on some of my own steak, "Oh, yeah," I said between bites, "how did you guys all meet? Souji-senpai said that he and Kanji met here, but he didn't say anything about the rest of you."

"Oh, we invited him out when he first came here." Chie answered, "King Moron was about to start lecturing him for no reason, but I managed to saved his bacon!" She grinned at Souji's sigh.

After a few more minutes of talking, Kanji suddenly asked, "Is it just me, or is this place getting darker?"

We all looked around, and saw the dark sky above us.

"What, is it going to rain?" Chie asked.

"The weather report wasn't calling for rain today..." Yukiko mused. A drop of water suddenly hit her on the nose, "Ah, it _is_ raining!"

Several more drops started coming down, making all of the food soggy. "Oh, come on! I'm still hungry!" Kanji shouted.

"C'mon, let's go back inside." Yosuke stood from his chair and ran inside Junes. We all followed him in without a word.

* * *

Yosuke managed to get each of us umbrellas, though he insisted that we'd have to pay him back. We came across an intersection that had us splitting up, with Souji, Yukiko, and myself going one way together.

I decided to bring up what was on my mind, "So...is everything alright?"

"Why do you ask?" Souji replied.

"It's nothing really important, it's just...you guys seemed like you were looking out for someone earlier."

"Chie already told you, we were waiting for Souji-kun." Yukiko said.

"But you guys still seemed to continued to do so after he joined us. I don't mean to be nosy, but I just find myself curious, is all."

"We were only looking out for more reporters," Souji told me. "Sometimes they want more than one interview, and we didn't want you being overwhelmed by them."

"Oh...I see." I never thought of that. "Thanks." I said with a smile.

* * *

When we got back to the inn, I thanked my senpai for accompanying me back. As I was entering, I heard Souji whisper something to Yukiko, though his voice was too low for me to hear anything.

I returned to my room and, realizing it was getting late, was about to pull on my pyjamas when the room's phone rang.

"Mr. Ricketts, we've received a letter for you," the lady on the other end said. "We believe it's from your parents."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "I'll be down in a second."

And I was.

"It _is _from my folks." I had the envelope in my hands. The words were carefully written in Japanese. I figured my mom did that because she always thought one mistake would screw the whole thing up. I opened it to see a big wad of cash. "Whoa, they didn't need to give me that much." I took it out and counted, "A thousand? They _seriously _didn't need to give me that much!"

I saw the woman behind the receptionist desk stare at me. Was I yelling to myself again?

"Um, do you know where I can exchange this for yen?" I asked her.

"You can change the currency at the bank," she replied. "It's out the door and to the right. It's a little ways down, but if you hurry you'll be able to get there before it closes."

"Thank you!" I bowed to her and quickly went to the door. Slipping my shoes on and grabbing an umbrella, I opened the door to see it pouring outside. I tucked the envelope into my jacket's pocket and walked out of the inn.

As I was turning the corner, someone grabbed me from behind. I didn't realize it at first, but whoever it was was trying to get me to stop breathing. They had a strong arm around my gut and a cloth filled with strong-smelling-stuff up to my mouth. I tried to kick the guy and yell for help, but I could feel myself starting to go limp. My voice didn't call out when I tried to do so, and my legs stopped moving entirely. Then my vision became completely dark and I went out like a light.

**

* * *

Woo, finally getting somewhere.**

**By the way, do any of you get mouth ulcers? I have three and they are desperately trying to kill me (I have one in my **_**throat**_**).**

**Anyway, thanks for patiently waiting and stuff. Reviews and criticisms are welcome!**


	5. Persona

**Here's your damn update after so damn long.**

**Disclaimer: I own Andrew Ricketts only. Persona 4 is Atlus's. 'Kay bye.**

**

* * *

~Unknown Date~**

**~Unknown Time~**

* * *

I awoke with a loud ringing in my ears and a lot of pain in my head. I tried to open my eyes, but my head hurt even more upon doing so. After a bit, the ringing started to fade and I forced myself to open my eyes, ignoring the hurting as best I could.

I was in what appeared to be a giant bedroom - like the kind one would find in a mansion. There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the back wall, its front end completely covered in pillows. A few chairs and a couch were in the corner in front of a wide screen TV, and underneath it were all of the latest video game consoles and piles of games. On the other side of the room was a rather large dresser and a big walk-in closet, filled to the brim with fancy clothing.

Other than that, the room was mostly empty, with its white walls and strange, green eye pattern on it.

"So, you're finally awake," a voice said from somewhere. The voice sounded strangely familiar, although a bit demonic. Standing up and looking behind me, I stared at the speaker:

Me.

...Or just someone who looked almost exactly like me. He had the same face and light brown hair, but he was wearing clothes and stuff that I didn't own. He had a white hoodie with the same green eye pattern as the walls, a pair of green goggles atop his forehead, and a pair of glasses with green lenses hanging from his pocket.

The only pair of eyes that _weren't_ green were his own, which were bright yellow. He also had a wide grin plastered on his face.

"About damn time you're up, too. I was getting tired of waiting." He started looking around the room. "Nice room, isn't it? The big bed, the closet full of clothes, all of those games... This is your dream room, right?" He started walking around me, little by little. "It's too bad, though, since this really _isn't_ your room. Yours is the shits compared to this beautiful one."

"W-what are you going on about?" I asked, my guard up. I knew this guy was bad news. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Are you that dumb?" The other guy's grin started to sag, and he paused his walking. "I'm you. And you're me."

"...What? That's ridiculous. How can there be two of me?" This guy was just talking nonsense.

He ignored me and started to pace again. "This room...isn't it magnificent? It's everything you've ever dreamed of. But you can't have it. You can't have anything from it. And why? Because you can't afford it, that's why." The dude stopped right in front of the bed, and he stared me down with his golden eyes, "And even when _you_ can't have it, someone else can. Someone more wealthy than you. Even when you're making yourself believe you're okay with living in the slums, you always know there's someone out there who's living in one of these, with the wealth to buy all his troubles away."

"What the hell are you talking about?" This guy was getting annoying, and fast.

"Doesn't knowing that someone else can have this while you can't make you..._jealous_?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the door behind me burst open. Running in were my senpai and Kanji, plus some odd-looking bear-thing.

"Andrew!" Kanji yelled out.

"Guys?" I called back. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to rescue you!" Chie answered.

"Ah, here we go...you're little friends," that other guy said. "These people whose families have enough money to have actually good homes. Who has the money to be able to afford whatever they want."

"What? What's it talking about?" Yukiko asked.

"What I'm saying, missy, is that you guys have everything you need and more!" His smile turned back into a frown. "Everyone except me can have whatever they friggin' want! Me, I have to get by with what I've got. 'Can I have a bike?' 'No, we don't have enough.' 'Can I buy this game?' 'No, we need that money for something else.' 'I want a dog like my friend has!' 'No, it'll cost to much!'" The hostility in his voice rose as he went on with his rant. "My folks never give me anything, but they give my brother the whole friggin' universe! Just because he's talented at hockey they think he deserves everything he asks for. He gets brand new phones, he gets to go to parties on the other side of town, and he's allowed all the treats he can eat! Me, I never get anything, because supposedly it'll be a waste! It's always my brother! My folks just ignore me like I don't even exist!" He turned to me and continued, "It's just like them, isn't it? They only care about their futures. They put more money into my brother because they think he'll make them millionaires in the future. They pay absolutely no attention to me and think that I don't exist!"

"That's not true!" I yelled at him, "My parents love me more than the world itself! It's true they do pay a lot for my brother, but it doesn't mean they love me no less!"

"How do you know that's the truth?" My look-a-like grinned again. "For all you know, they could've had two kids just to have a better chance of having a prodigy. Maybe they shipped you out to Japan because they didn't want to have you anymore!"

"No, you're wrong!" I screamed at him.

"You're jealous at your brother for having everything while you have nothing, and of other people for having more money and fancier homes than you do, aren't you!"

"_SHUT UP!_" I charged him and tackled him on to the bed. I started to punch the living daylights out of him, but his grin didn't fade. With seemingly no effort, he kicked me off the bed, and I landed in someone's arms.

"Whoa!" Kanji yelled, and set me back onto the ground.

I glared at the now-standing boy. "Just who the hell are you?" I yelled.

His grin seemed to widen even more. "Didn't I tell you earlier? I'm you, and you're me."

"NO!" I yelled. My head started to pain for some reason, and I grasped it. "You're... you're..."

"No!" Yosuke yelled. "Don't say it!"

I didn't know what he meant, but I didn't care. "_YOU'RE NOT ME!_"

The other me started laughing maniacally, and dark clouds enveloped him.

"He wasn't able to control his suppressed self!" A new voice, most likely that bear-thing, shouted. "He's turning into another monster!"

"We have but no choice to fight!" Souji yelled. The fog cleared and where the look-a-like stood was something...weird. It was a giant man dressed in a light green tuxedo with a rather large top hat resting on its head. In its hands was a rather fancy and oddly pointy cane, and it also had a monocle in his eye. But what was most surprising was the weird dragon wings popping out from its back. Suddenly, what appeared to be a butler popped up on his side, with a single throwing knife in his hand.

"Get ready!" Souji yelled, and before I knew it I was on the floor, unconsciousness taking over me.

* * *

It didn't seem long after that that my eyes opened. I was staring between to pairs of feet: one having a pair of greaves while the other was short, stumpy and blue. I groaned as I held my (once again) aching head and started to rise.

I looked past the two figures (who were Chie and that bear) to see the other four staring down the tux'd dude. The latter seemed to be in pain, as it was crouching a bit with a hand over his shoulder and its wings were sagging. The butler didn't seem to be around anymore, as well.

Suddenly Souji charged forward with a long sword in his hands. Yosuke and Kanji did the same with similar weapons while Yukiko stayed back. The three guys swung their blades/desk at the man, who hardly managed to block the attacks with its cane. It got thrown about a bit, and landed on its back.

The tux'd guy tried to lift itself up, but it got hit with a blast of fire from out of nowhere. I just managed to catch a glimpse at a giant pink cheerleader floating above Yukiko, which faded into nothing. The giant fell down and tried to get up again, but its balance was off and it wound up slipping onto its stomach.

"Now's our chance for a beatdown!" Kanji yelled at Souji. The latter simply nodded and the four of them charged at the downed giant, each yelling their own war cry. They began beating the thing, its screeches from the pain being ignored. It seemed that was all it could take, as it screamed one more time and was suddenly enveloped in another cloud of dark fog. When it cleared, there was my counterpart, lying face down on the ground.

"Whew!" that bear thing sighed. "That one was tough work!"

"You hardly did anything!" Yosuke looked back, and his eyes widened when he saw me. "Oh, he's awake!"

Everyone looked back to me, and I just meekly waved and said, "Uh, hi." They all suddenly rushed over to me and started bombarding me with questions. 'Are you okay?' 'He didn't hurt you, did he?'

My fear of crowds was starting to kick in, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw me get up. It looked back at us without a word.

I, too, didn't say anything, but I walked towards him as everyone stepped aside. I sighed and said, "I suppose you were right. Honestly, almost everything you said is true. I _am _jealous of my brother for getting more attention from my parents, and I _am_ jealous of people who have more than me. I just figured, 'Why me? Why do I have to suffer while others are out there, living like they are?'"

I sighed again, and turned back to my friends. Here comes my monologue... "When I was younger, I never understood why my family lived in a tiny house while there were obviously bigger ones just down the street, or why I saw a kid playing with a bigger, better toy than what I had. I didn't think it fair that they had more than what I had."

"And that's where it all started, I'm assuming." Souji spoke.

I nodded, "I asked my parents about it, and they said it was because they had more money than we did. They told me money is hard to come by, and they would only spend it where necessary. But then a couple of years later, I noticed that my parents kept spending more and more money on my brother. I didn't understand at first, and didn't bother to know why, but I eventually came to the false conclusion that they liked him better than me." I got strange and disapproving looks from the others, "Oh come on, I was, like, 10. Back then I hardly knew better." I sighed and continued. "Once, I asked my parents about it. I told them what I thought, and they scolded me for saying such a thing. They said that they truly _do_ love me, more than anything. But I was young and stupid, like I said. I didn't believe them, and I hadn't for the few years following. I always felt that they never wanted me because I wasn't good at sports. That I was a failure."

"That's not true," Yukiko said. "No parent thinks their child is like that."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right..." I looked back at my counterpart. "After all that time, I felt terrible. I wanted to forget about those feelings of hatred and such, and I eventually did. But deep down, I knew I still felt the jealousy towards my brother, towards others that had more than me. I just never bothered to think much about it." I stared into those unmoving, golden eyes. "You are those feelings within me, aren't you? You didn't want to be forgotten, so you came out to remind me... I believe you now. That you are me, and I am you."

The other me gained a gentle smile, not like the sadistic grin from before. He nodded to me, and disappeared in a bright blue light.

A purple dragon now stood before me, though it wasn't a normal one. For one thing, it didn't have any arms, and it was standing on its hind legs. It looked down at me and showed no signs of aggression.

**_'I am Wyvern. I was born of thee, and I shall fight by your side.'_**

Voices in my head. The heck.

The dragon disappeared and a card replaced it, gently floating down before it vanished, too. The light faded, leaving me staring at the wall. Suddenly exhaustion overwhelmed me, as I fell to my knees and started breathing heavily. The others ran over me, concern written all over their faces.

"Thanks guys..." I said between gasps, "for rescuing me..."

"Don't mention it," Yosuke said as Kanji lifted my arm and slung it over his, bringing me up as well. "We would've saved anyone."

I smiled weakly, then looked around the bedroom again. The place was nearly destroyed - the bed was burnt, and the TV had chunks of ice on it. The clothes were all over the place, and the dresser had several slash marks on it. "What the hell did you guys do in here?" I asked weakly.

"We fought," Souji replied simply. "There's no time to explain, we have to get you out of here."

"He's right," the bear said. "You could pass out again if we don't leave quickly."

"Oh, right..." I said, and looked at that bear. "Who're you?"

"I am Teddie, second in command of this ragtag group!" The others glared at him. "We focus on rescuing people who get thrown in here and charge by the hour!"

"Wha- Hey, I thought _I_ was second in command?" Yosuke yelled.

"You would be, but you're the comic relief. You can't be second in command." Teddie replied with a smug grin.

"Oh, you good for nothing bear!"

"C'mon guys, stop fooling around," Chie said, then looked at me. "Andrew-kun looks like he's gonna pass out again."

I did find it hard to keep my head up. With confirmations from everyone, we all walked out of the big doors.

* * *

We strode down a bunch of hallways as quick as we could. Those hallways had the same white and green eye pattern from the bedroom. There were also blobs of purple goo with small eyes and arms every now and then, but my senpai rushed them all before they could do anything.

I wanted to ask about this place, but I was way too tired. We eventually made it to a small yellow platform, surrounded by fog, with three TVs stacked on each other. Kanji and Yosuke carefully slid me into the bottom one, and before I knew it I was on the floor of Junes's electronics department.

"Why are we at Junes?" I asked tiredly. One by one the others piled out, except for Teddie.

"We'll explain everything some other time." Souji said, "Right now, we need to get you back to your room so you can sleep."

"Alright..." I sighed. Kanji lifted me up again, and we walked out of Junes via a side exit. No one saw us, and we were home free.

* * *

Once again, Souji and Yukiko accompanied me to the inn, and they both helped me to my room.

"Thanks again guys." I smiled as Souji placed me on my futon. "I don't know what would've happened if you never showed up."

"Think nothing of it." Yukiko insisted. She and Souji stood by the sliding door, ready to leave.

Now that I think about it, from this angle...

"When you two are standing like that, you remind me of a married couple, watching their child fall asleep."

They took that in, looked at each other, and their faces reddened. Yukiko took a step back and Souji glanced around nervously. I chuckled, my evil deed of the day done, and bid them a good night. I instantly fell asleep.

**

* * *

GAH.**

**Long time between updates is long.**

**Yeah, it's been over like a week or two or three since I got into town. And I haven't had internet connection since. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**So, if anyone really cares, you could leave a comment or something. I'll give you big hugs and kisses if you do, and if you don't want them I'll force them on you. Mwahahaa.**

_**NOTE FOR UPDATE**_

**I just realized that Wyvern is actually a part of the SMT series, just not in Persona. So I changed its color to match it. Sorry :P**

**Also, I realized that a character's Shadow had something in common with their Persona (like Yosuke's had a moustache, etc), so I just added dragon wings to Shadow Andrew to keep that trend going.**


	6. Questions

**Wooo. Chapter 6, huh. I wonder how long this story will be.**

**I don't really know what to say here, so just start reading the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Andrew Ricketts is mine, Persona 4 is Atlus's.**

**Notes:**

When there's one word _italicized_, it's a sound effect.

_Italicized without quotations means Andrew is thinking, not narrating._

_**' Bolded and italicized with one quotation at either end means a Persona is talking.'**_

"_Italicized with two quotations at either end means the sentence is emphasised._"

**

* * *

~June 16~**

**~2:30PM~**

* * *

I opened my eyes and looked around. All I could see was a very bright blue before it reached a dense fog, which didn't show any signs of letting up.

The purple dragon thing from before appeared in front of me. It stretched its wings out and roared, though it wasn't very ferocious. It looked me in the eyes.

"What exactly are you?" I asked it.

It continued to stare at me before answering, _**'I am a manifestation of your personality. Because you faced your Shadow and accepted your suppressed feelings, I, a Persona, was born.'**_

"So you're, like, apart of me?" It nodded, and I recalled last week's events. "What about that thing that appeared over Yukiko-senpai? Was that her...'Persona'?"

_**'It was. She, too, accepted her suppressed feelings, and gained a Persona. The others must have, as well.'**_

"Why? Because _their_ Shadow's didn't appear?"

_**'Yes. And did it not look like they knew what they were doing?'**_

I thought back. They did look pretty confident, and they beat my Shadow with relative ease. "Yeah, they looked ready to fight..." I looked back at it and asked, "So does that mean I can use you for fighting as well?"

It nodded. _**'Yes, though only in the other world will I be able to help.'**_

I blinked. "The other world, huh? So there's another world in Junes?"

_**'Not only there, but everywhere. It is around the same size as Earth, but it is cut off from our world. Only Persona users, such as yourself, can enter that world.'**_

"I...think I understand..." To be honest, I didn't get much of it.

I noticed a rather small light in between me and Wyvern, and it gradually got brighter. It started to take a shape-almost like a human, with a head, arms and hands. It stood shorter than me, but seemed to have two lumps coming out from the top of its head. They went down to its shoulders, almost like wavy hair.

"What in the..." I whispered. I noticed Wyvern had disappeared, and it was only me and this transparent figure left.

"A...rew..." Another voice called out, seemingly coming from the newcomer, "..ndrew..."

The figure now started to change again. The two lumps of hair started merging as one behind the head, and started going farther down its back. A face was forming on it, and I eventually recognized it. "Ms. Omukay...?"

_WHAP_

"Gah!" I jolted up and grabbed my head.

"It's about time, Andrew," Ms. Omukay said sternly. She was standing behind me with a text book in her hands. "You miss a week of school as soon as you transfer here, and now you think you can take a nap in the middle of class? I honestly thought you were better than that."

"Ah, no, Ms. Omukay, I woke up early this morning and I couldn't fall back to sleep..." I tried to give her a very good reason, though note that I said 'tried.'

"I think I'm going to have to send you out into the hall." She pointed to the door with her empty hand.

"Whaaat? Just like that?"

"Yes. Now go." I grumbled and walked outside, ignoring the snickering from my classmates. I stood there and watched students and teachers pass me. Eventually the bell rang, and thankfully that was the last period for the day. I walked back into the classroom and grabbed my bag.

Kanji and I walked out of the room, and when the door closed he spoke up. "Man, that teacher is scary."

"You think so?" I asked.

He nodded and said, "She was standin' behind ya with this big smile and everything, but there was a huge vein on her forehead, and it was like she had this malicious... 'aura' around her. Then she hit you."

"Yikes," I said, idly rubbing the growing lump. "Good thing I was asleep and didn't see that."

He chuckled, "Yeah." The others were already at the shoe lockers when we got there.

"Hey guys," Yosuke greeted.

"Yo," I said. "We going to the 'Special Headquarters' now?"

"Ah, you remembered the name!" Chie smiled. "Yep, we're on our way there now."

"Good. I wanna know just what the hell happened last week," I sighed and rubbed that bump again, "That stuff was pretty crazy."

"Don't worry," Souji said. "You'll know all we know by the end of the day."

"Alright, let's go," Yosuke said, and we all left for Junes.

* * *

The 'Special Headquarters' wasn't really that special. In fact, I had expected it to be relatively secret, away from the public. But no, it was an ordinary food court table.

"Don't you guys think that someone would be able to hear us?" I asked, glancing at the people at another table not far away.

"Don't worry, we talk quietly," Yukiko reassured.

I wasn't too sure about that, but I didn't think about it. "Okay then," I said. "I've got questions now."

"Shoot." Yosuke said.

"...Where were we? I remember winding up inside Junes afterwards, but I don't know how I got there."

"We were inside the TV," Chie answered.

"...What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's true," Kanji said. "Took me by surprise too."

"So _that's_ how we get to the other world..." I mused. "So that place runs all over the world then?"

"That's what we're assuming," Yosuke said. "Though they all have separate entrances and exits. The first time we went there was in Junes, and we've been going in from there ever since."

"Alright... So it's that world itself that gets your Shadow out?"

"Yeah..." Chie said. She didn't say any more. I guess nobody wanted to talk about it.

I decided to move on. "What about those weapons? Did you guys sneak those in, or were they stored in the other world?"

"We took them with us. We just hid them under our clothes," Yukiko answered.

"That makes sense for the three of you," I said to her, Chie and Yosuke. "But what about you guys?" I turned to Souji and Kanji. "You had a longsword, and you had a friggin' desk. How'd you get past the people in there?"

"We were careful and made sure to get there unnoticed." Souji replied.

"Sounds easier said than done..." I mused. I thought for a second. "What about that mansion? It looked a little too suspicious to be just some random building."

"You were the one to create that," Yukiko answered, and explained before I could speak. "Places like that seem to appear whenever someone gets thrown in, but we're not one hundred percent on it."

"People get thrown in there?" I asked. "By who?"

"That's...what we're trying to figure out," Yosuke sighed. "Remember when I told you about Saki-senpai last week?" I nodded. "Well... that's how she died."

"S...seriously?" I was stunned. "H-how? Did those blob things get to her and...kill her?"

"Blob things?" Yukiko repeated. "Oh, you mean the Shadows! Yes, but not just those ones. Her own Shadow must've attacked and killed her."

"...Why would it do that?" I asked.

"A person's Shadow would kill the original if they don't accept their suppressed feelings and emotions," Souji explained. "You nearly experienced that first hand."

I was reminded of my own Shadow. "S-so... If I hadn't accepted the fact that he was me, _I_ would've died?" The others nodded. "Geez..." I whispered. "This is some heavy stuff here..."

"Andrew, will you help us?"

I looked up at Souji. "Huh?"

"There will most likely be more people thrown into the TV, and to rescue them we'll need all the help we can get."

"So... I can help prevent their deaths...?" He nodded. I made my decision immediately. "Yes, I'll help you guys."

Souji smiled and sighed of relief, as did the others. "Thank you," he said.

"Anything to help," I said. I thought for a quick moment and said, "...I think that's all my questions now."

"Alright then, we have some for you now," Yosuke said.

"Huh?" I looked at him. "What can _I_ answer?"

"Do you remember how you were thrown in?" he asked.

"How I was thrown in...?" I thought back, "I remember... having to go out somewhere... the bank I think... Oh, crap!" I reached into my uniform's pocket and pulled out the envelope. "My folks sent me money last week and I forgot to get it changed to yen!"

"Really? How much did they send you?" Chie asked.

"I think it was... a thousand dollars... and that's roughly one hundred thousand yen. I think."

"A hundred...!" Kanji trailed off, shocked. "Dude, you're rich!"

"Yeah, seriously. I gotta pay inn expenses and buy food for myself and everything, but that's all that's required. I'll still have a lot left over... My parents didn't need to send me this much. They need it more than I do..."

"Um... Is that all there was in the envelope?" Yukiko asked. "Maybe there's a letter in there, saying why they gave you so much..."

I blinked. "I never thought of that." I opened the envelope and looked past all the money. There was a neatly folded piece of paper underneath it all. "Hey, you were right!" I took it out and read it out loud.

_Dear Andrew,_

_Hi, honey! How are you doing? Did you make any new friends? I hope you did!_

_I put some money in with the letter for you to pay for the inn room and food, and also a little bit extra for yourself. Don't worry if you think it's too much, your father won a bit of money from the lottery, a good $5000. This is your share, don't spend it all in one place!_

_Hope to hear from you soon, Mom._

I smiled. "She never was really good at punctuation..."

"Wow, so you really _are_ rich," Chie said, surprised.

"Yeah, I am..." I chuckled. "I guess my folks love me after all."

"Of course they do, stupid," Yosuke said. "What parent could hate their own child?"

"I hate to interrupt," Souji said, "but what were you going on with before?"

"Huh...? Oh, right!" I got back to thinking. "Uh, let's see... I got the envelope, and went out to the bank. It was raining, so I grabbed an umbrella." I narrowed my eyebrows. "...Um, that's pretty much it. I remember someone grabbing me from behind, but that's all I can clearly remember..."

Yosuke grumbled, "Still nothing new..."

"Sorry..." I looked down, "I wish I could remember more, but I can't..."

"Well, at the very least we were able to save you." Yukiko's attempts to raise everyone's spirits seemed to work. Partially.

I tried to think back to that night. As I did, my mind wandered back into the mansion, with myself, my Shadow, these guys, the bear, the giant tux'd man, the butler-

_Wait a minute wait a minute._

"Who..._what_ was that bear thing?" I asked.

"Wow, you figured out he was a bear?" Kanji asked, "First time I saw him I thought he was a blue egg or something."

"Even as I was about to pass out, I was still able to notice his little ears," I said to Kanji with a smirk. "So, was he some guy in a costume or something?"

Chie laughed, "If only. He's actually from the TV world. He's been helping us since April, when we first went in the TV." She looked at Souji and said, "Hey, why don't we bring him into the TV to meet him? Last time wasn't exactly under the best circumstances for greetings."

"Yeah, you're right," Souji replied. "But what about the campout? Didn't you and Yukiko-chan want to make supper for us?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right... I forgot all about it," Chie sighed. "Well, let's just be quick, then we'll go get the ingredients!"

"The what now?" I asked. "What campout?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Chie asked. "The school's having a campout in the mountains tomorrow."

"And it's not a vacation, either," Yosuke groaned. "We'll be picking up garbage, 'cause the apparently it's all educational and stuff."

"Whaaat?" I whined. "That sucks."

"Mhm," Yosuke nodded. "There's gonna be two groups: one of the first-years, and the other is the second years. The four of us are gonna be in a group, and you'll be stuck with Kanji." He placed a hand on my shoulders. "Our prayers are with you, my friend."

"What." I said, not asked.

"What the hell are ya gettin' on with, senpai?" Kanji spoke up, his voice rather loud and angry.

"Well then, let's go in the TV!" Yosuke hopped up from his chair. "C'mon, chop-chop, time's-a wasting!"

* * *

Making sure no one was around to see us, we all hopped into a turned off TV, and wound up somewhere completely different. It was the yellow platform from before, but the place was completely covered in fog.

Standing off to the side, looking down off the platform, was that bear, Teddie.

"Yo, Ted," Yosuke called out. "We're here to introduce the new guy."

Teddie didn't respond. Honestly, I don't think he even knew we were here.

"Teddie?" Chie asked. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his head.

Teddie jumped in surprise. "W-wah! G-get back, Shadows! I know bear-fu!" He looked as if he was about to strike at Chie, but she just side-stepped his attack. Teddie wound up falling over and landing flat on his back. "Ahh! Help me!" Chie helped him back up, and his frown immediately turned into a smile. "Oh! Chie-chan! I thought you were a Shadow!"

"Yeah, I know," Chie smiled at him. "What were you thinking about? About who you really are, again?"

Teddie sighed. "Yep, and I've still got no answers. No matter how hard I think, nothing comes up..."

"Aww, don't feel too bad, Ted..." Chie rubbed his head. "I'm sure you'll figure it out soon."

The bear's frown turned upside-down again. "Thanks, Chie-chan!" He looked at me and said, "So, you're our new member, huh?"

_His mouth doesn't even move when he talks..._ "Yeah. I'm Andrew Ricketts." I replied. "Nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet you, too, Andy!" Teddie grinned.

"Andy? ...Huh." I said it a few times. "Andy... _An_dy... An_dy_... You know, I think I like it like that."

"Okay then!" He reached into his sleeve that I didn't know he had and pulled out something. "These are for you! Each new member gets a pair when they join the team!"

"Thank... you...?" I took the present and looked at it. It was a pair of glasses, but it was...strange. "Uh, why's it like this?"

Yukiko's attempts to stifle a giggle failed. "Just put them on," She demanded.

I frowned and reluctantly put on the glasses. They were...strange. "Why does it have a fake nose and moustache?"

At that moment Yukiko burst out laughing, and Chie and Yosuke did as well. Souji and Kanji simply chuckled.

"So _that's_ what they look like on someone else," Kanji mused. "They do look pretty good on you."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you have to suffer this, too?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I did." He glanced at Yukiko. "I still haven't gotten you back for that."

The others kept laughing at my expense, but I threw the glasses to the floor and stomped on them. "It's not really _that_ funny, is it?"

"Y-yes, it is!" Yukiko managed to get out.

"Y-Yukiko..." Chie said between her giggles. "I think that joke's getting a liiitle old now."

"Alright, alright." Yukiko laughed. "This'll be the last time."

"Here's your real pair," Teddie said, handing me an actual pair of glasses. These had the frame of a pair of sunglasses, but they were green and the lenses weren't tinted. "I got the green idea from those eyes at that mansion," Teddie said with a grin.

"Oh, uh... thanks." I said. Honestly, I didn't want to be reminded of that place, but what can you do?

I put the glasses on, and was not expecting to see through the fog. Though there was some farther off, I was still able to see a good thirty or forty feet in front of me. "Whoa! How the heck did you make these?"

"I just make them!" Teddie replied simply.

"But, what did you use to allow us to see through the fog?"

"I dunno."

* * *

We decided to wrap it up at that, and after saying goodbye to Teddie, we went back into our world.

"Alright, Yukiko-chan, Chie-chan and I are going to get ingredients for the campout tomorrow," Souji announced.

"Okay," Yosuke replied. "I've got some things to do upstairs, so I'm gonna head up there."

"There's an upstairs?" I asked. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Uhh..." Yosuke's eyes winded, and glanced around nervously. "S-sorry. Junes employees only."

"Aw, seriously?" I sighed, "Oh well... I guess I'll go to the bank now." I started off in some direction. "See you guys later."

"See ya," was the general response.

I was a few feet away from them when a voice spoke up. In my head.

'_**You seem to be enjoying yourself.'**_

_Yo, Wyvern. Nice of you to speak up._

_**'I did not want to interrupt your conversation with your friends. I trust you understand now what you will be doing?'**_

_Yeah. I'm gonna help them with this thing. It should be easy for me, with your help._

_**'It will be dangerous, nonetheless. Are you sure you are willing to do this?'**_

_Yeah, of course. They're my friends, and they helped me. I'll do anything to help..._

**_'How noble of you.'_**

_By the way, I got something to ask._

_**'Yes?'**_

_What was that thing during our talk this afternoon? It looked like a short girl with twin tails..._

_**'Forgive me, but I do not know. I don't have all the answers, you know.'**_

_Oh, right. Sor-_

"Excuse me," a gruff voice called out. I stopped my internal conversation and looked at the voice. There were two men, one in a grey shirt and red tie, and the other guy in a black suit and tie. "I'm Detective Ryotaro Dojima, and this is Detective Tohru Adachi." The other guy waved. "You were the boy that got kidnapped last week, correct?"

_A police officer?_ "Uh, yeah. I'm that boy. My name's Andrew Ricketts."

"Do you mind if we ask you a few questions about it?"

"Oh, sure. But I was just on my way to the bank, so could we try to make this quick?"

"Sure thing." He took out a notepad and a pen, "Do you remember anything from when you were kidnapped?"

"Uh, let's see..." I recalled what I had told the others from before. "I got a call from the receptionist that a letter arrived for me, so I went down to get it. Oh, I stay at the Amagi Inn, in case you don't know." He nodded. "It was a letter from my parents with Canadian dollars in it, so I was gonna go out and exchange it for yen. When I got outside... someone grabbed me from behind and I blacked out." I looked up at him. "That's all I can remember clearly."

"I see..." Dojima said as he scribbled down what I said.

"Anything else you can remember?" The other guy, Adachi, asked. "Anything at all? Even if it's not that clear?"

"Err..." I thought as hard as I could. "I think there was a door... or something. An entrance to somewhere, perhaps?"

"Mmm," was Dojima's response, while Adachi nodded. "What about when you left the inn? Did you see anything suspicious?"

"Not...really..." I did my best to remember, "I don't think there was anything out of the ordinary."

Dojima sighed. "Same thing as last time." He turned and walked away, with Adachi following. "Thanks. Call the police if you remember something."

"I will." When the two cops were out of sight I began walking again. It took a good ten minutes, but I finally found the exit to Junes. I also found the bank and got the money changed to yen, then I went out and bought groceries and paid for the room at the inn.

When I got back to my room, I decided to write my parents a letter. I came up with the excuse that I was out with my friends everyday and that I didn't have a chance to give them a call. I thanked them for the money and wrote some other stuff, and laid in on the table for tomorrow.

I noticed the time was really late, so I went to bed right away.

**

* * *

Lots of talking in this one. Not really fond of this chapter, I just couldn't think of what to say for most of it :/**

**Yeah, I forgot to say this last time, but I'd like some criticism please. Anything at all that could make this story better. PLEEEASE.**


	7. Camping Trip

**Alright, two chapters in one day! Aren't I quick? (Or just a sloppy writer).**

**Okay, so I've decided to answer questions here, instead of sending messages. It's just so that other people won't ask the same questions and I have to answer them separately (I'm a lazy boy).**

**eggmiester:** Thank God you were kidding :D Anyway, despite the story being in someone else's point of view, Souji still going to be the strongest party member; it's just that everyone else will be equal to each other, one step behind Souji.

**Uh, yeah that's it.**

**Disclaimer: Only the original character, Andrew Ricketts, is mine. Atlus owns Persona 4 and stuff.**

**

* * *

~June 17th~**

**~9:15PM~**

* * *

Okay, I wasn't expecting this. Kanji and I were in the same tent, that I figured. But there were two other guys here as well. I didn't realize there had to be four to a tent. I didn't know their names, but I do remember their faces: they were the guys who told me about the Midnight Channel first.

No one was saying anything, we all just kept glancing around. Those two guys kept dodging Kanji's glare until he finally got sick of it. "This sucks," he said, and he got up, picked up his bag and walked out of the tent.

"Uh..." I glanced at those two guys. When they didn't say anything, I, too, got up with my own bag and followed Kanji. "Where're you going?"

"To Souji-senpai and Yosuke-senpai's tent," he answered.

"Oh... Well, I guess I'll go too." The two of us started walking around the area, trying to listen for either Souji or Yosuke. We also ran into this really loud teacher who had these really big teeth. I found it frightfully disturbing, and to make it worse, the guy seemed to be a bit drunk. He started yelling at Kanji for some reason, and I could tell my classmate was holding back the urge to punch the teacher. Fortunately, either for us or for that guy, he left our presence soon after.

"Was that who I think it was?" I asked.

"King Moron? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was him," Kanji answered.

"He never even said a word to me, and I already hate him," I said, shooting raspberries at him.

We eventually found Souji and Youske's tent, right out of the way from the other tents. It was pitched over a rock and right next to a hill. Why it was, I don't even know.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yosuke yelled in a whisper when we entered.

"The guys back in the other tent were bein' all quiet and stuff, so I came here," Kanji explained as he sat down.

"And I didn't want to be stuck with guys that I didn't know the names of, 'cause it would've been reeeally awkward." I sat down next to Kanji.

"...Okay then..." Yosuke sighed. "But don't expect any pity from us if you two get caught."

"You seem a little on edge tonight, senpai," I said. "Everything alright?"

"No..." His stomach suddenly growled. "That's why. Argh, I'm sooo hungry...!"

"What happened?" I asked, "I thought Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai were making you dinner?"

"They did," Yosuke groaned. "It was curry, and it came out purple."

Kanji was wide-eyed. "Seriously? How'd they manage to do _that_?" He turned to Souji. "Senpai, you went with them, right? What did they buy?"

Souji sighed and said, "Black and white ground pepper, mint chocolate, mocha, and seafood, among other unmentionable things."

"Seriously?" I tried to stifle a laugh. "They put _chocolate_ in curry? Even I know you're not supposed to do that."

Kanji looked around the tent a bit. "Is it just you two in this tent?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject.

Souji nodded, "The guys that were supposed to be here called in sick."

"Heh," Yosuke scoffed. "Smart move..."

"So it's cool if we hang out here, then?" I asked.

"Stay as long as you want," Souji said with a smile.

Kanji grinned back. "Hey, you're a stand-up guy, senpai."

_Haha, that rhymed._

"Don't worry," Kanji went on, "I won't make any trouble for you. They won't catch me unless we raise a ruckus."

"Hey, I'm here too," I said.

Yosuke sighed, "Alright, alright. You guys can sleep over there."

We looked back to see this giant rock underneath the tent.

"Dude, there's a huge rock under there," Kanji said rather loudly. "How'm I supposed to sleep? It's gonna hurt like hell."

"Hey, quiet," I hissed. "You said you weren't gonna make any noise."

Kanji ignored me and turned back to Yosuke. "Yo senpai, can't you go a liiitle further back?"

"No, he can't," Souji answered, "We had to pitch this tent right next to the hill."

"Yeah. I'd roll down the hill in my sleep." Yosuke said with a glare.

"Sleep rolling, huh?" I said to myself, "That's new."

"If you guys don't like it here, go back to the first year tent." Yosuke was definitely not in a good mood.

Kanji just grumbled, but turned to Souji. "Wasn't your teacher some guy called King Moron?"

"Yeah, why?" Souji asked.

"That guy stopped us outside earlier, and he pissed me off so much I was about to lose it. He was going on and on about when I was in middle school, when he doesn't know shit about any of that... Not only that, he was bullshitting about how I'll be expelled immediately if I cause trouble... That ain't funny, man."

Yosuke sighed, "Yeah, that guy's set a speed record for jumping to conclusions..."

"Hey, I think I heard a couple of guys in our class talk about him," I said. "They said he was talking about those too ladies who died, and he wasn't saying nice things about them."

"King Moron was talking about Ms. Yamano and Saki-senpai...?" Yosuke asked.

"About what?" Souji added.

"Uh, I heard something like, 'It's no surprise that people who are unfaithful or run away from home meet a bad end...'" I sighed. "But who knows, really? Not a lot of students like him, so he could've said something else..."

Yosuke grimaced. "Damn... I can just picture him saying that. He never shut up about me when I moved here last year." He then chuckled, "Not that I remember anything he said..."

"What about you, senpai?" Kanji asked Souji. "Was he talking shit about you?"

Souji nodded. "He called me a loser, and ever since I've been on his 'shit-list.'"

"Oh, yeah..." Yosuke said. "I remember that day. You stood up to him and made a good first impression." He grinned. "Must've taken some courage to do that."

"I'd totally just knock his teeth in if I wouldn't get in trouble," I said as I did a few air-punches, imagining those giant teeth in front of me. Yosuke reached over to our bags and pulled out a small package. I didn't know what was in it, but he just started eating whatever they were.

"Even if what he said is only a little true," Kanji said, "it still pisses me off... The dickhead's a damn teacher, for God's sake."

"Ah, don't waste your energy getting pissed at that clown," Yosuke said as he munched away.

"Where'd you get those?" Souji asked him.

"In one of those bags," Yosuke pointed to them.

Kanji's head shot up. "Wait a sec, what are you eating!"

Yosuke stared a bit, "Animal...crackers?" I could tell the fear in him was rising.

"What the-! Those are mine!" Kanji yelled. He slammed a fist into the ground. "Dammit! I was so pumped about finding the penguin today, too..."

"Why didn't you eat them earlier then?" I asked him.

"I was saving them for a bedtime snack!" Kanji said to me angrily.

"Penguin?" Yosuke stopped eating.

A vein appeared up on Kanji's temple. "The secret animal cracker! You were eating them and you didn't know that!"

"Are you serious?" Yosuke asked, "You should've said something!"

I started giggling at that. "What're you laughing at!" Kanji yelled.

"I just find it funny that you're getting so worked up about a penguin," I answered truthfully.

"Ya got a problem with it!" Kanji yelled at me with a glare.

"Uh, no, sir!" I said. "No problem at all! It's alright for someone as tough as you to like animal crackers!"

Kanji glared at me, but then he chuckled and said, "That's more like it."

Yosuke flipped the bag upside down and dumped the crumbs out onto the tent floor. "Hey, don't just dump it anywhere," Souji said. "We're going to be sleeping here."

Yosuke sighed. "You're right, sorry." He scooped up the crumbs and placed it back in the bag, then just threw it to the side. "Let's just go to sleep."

"How?" I asked, "There's four of us, one giant rock and one slope right next to us. We won't be able to sleep peacefully here."

"Well, it was your decision to come here, so either go back to your own tent, or stay here." Yosuke said grumpily.

I sighed, "Alright, alright." I curled around the rock and attempted to get comfortable.

It wasn't much longer after we lid down that Yosuke spoke up. "Kanji, don't you have any more space on your side?"

"Man, I can't sleep over there, or my back's gonna break." Kanji replied.

"Oh...okay." Yosuke sighed.

A bit more silence. "Hey, is the light still on?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Souji replied.

"I can't sleep well with a light on, so... could someone turn it off please?" The light turned off. "Thanks."

Even more silence, until Yosuke spoke again, "Uh... Hey, Kanji?"

"Yeah?" The tall boy in question asked.

"...Why'd you come to this tent?"

"Huh? I already told you." Kanji replied. "Geez... 's wrong with you?"

Yosuke hesitated a little. "...This is as good a time as any, so... I want you to be honest with us."

"Uh...okay?" Kanji asked.

I groaned. "Senpai, can't this wait 'til tomorrow? I'm tired..."

"No, no...now's the best time to ask" Yosuke said. He gulped, "A-are you really... you know...?"

_What's he getting at?_

"...Am I really _what_?" Kanji asked.

"Uh...what I really mean is... Are we gonna be safe...alone with you?"

"Wha-!" I heard someone stand up, so I opened my eyes to see Kanji towering over Yosuke. "Wh-wh-what the hell's that supposed to mean! I-I already told you guys I'm not like that!" Yosuke and Souji stood up as well, so I did so, too.

"W-well, then why are you so hot and bothered about it?" Yosuke asked defensively. "That's just _more_ suspicious!"

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked them. No one seemed to hear.

"Hell no!" Kanji yelled. "We settled this already, dammit! Right now I'm... Well... How do I put it... Uh..."

Yosuke's eyes widened. "Oh, God, don't trail off like that! You're freaking me out!"

"I'm trying to tell you, that I have no problem being around girls now!"

"What the hell are you guys talking about!" I shouted. "Stop arguing, or Morooka or someone will hear!" They still didn't listen and just kept going.

"Can you prove it!" Yosuke yelled.

"P...prove it?" Kanji asked.

"'Cause if you can't, we're gonna be stuck here all night, half scared to death!"

"Tch... To hell with this! If that's what you really think of me... then I'm gonna go hit the girl's tent right now!"

"What, seriously?" I asked him. "You sure you should do that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure! I'll show you guys that I'm not like that!"

"Wait, that's a little extreme! You don't have to go that far!" Yosuke said. "They'll expel you if they find you! Don't tell me you forgot! King Moron's got his eye on you!"

"Yeeeah, like that'd stop a man like me!" Kanji pumped his fist in the air.

"Kanji, please, calm down! This won't solve anything," Souji said.

"Yeah, dude, don't do it," I pitched in. "It's not worth getting expelled over."

Kanji became even more furious. "Y'think I'm gonna put up with this crap! I'll show you guys! To hell with King Moron! No one's stopping Kanji Tatsumi, dammit!" He let out a scream that may have waken up everyone on the mountain, and dashed out of the tent.

"Kanji, wait!" I tried to stop him, but it didn't work: he was long gone.

"What a putz..." Yosuke sighed. "I declare myself not responsible for anything that happens."

"What!" I yelled. "That's not fair! You're the one that started this!"

"I only asked him a question! How was I supposed to know he'd go on a rampage like that!"

"I don't know, you guys have known Kanji longer than me!" I sighed, "Why don't you go get him back?"

"Hell no! I'm not risking getting caught by King Moron!"

"Guys, if you don't keep quiet, he'll hear us!" Souji hissed. We both shut up at this.

Looking out at the entrance, Yosuke whispered, "Let's just hope the girls don't hurt him."

"You think he'll be back?" I asked.

"You never know," Souji said. "Let's just stay up until he does."

"Alright then." We all sat down, but there was still an uncomfortable silence in the air. "Hey, why was Kanji acting like that? He said he wanted to 'prove he wasn't like that' or something."

"Ah, it was when he got thrown into the TV," Yosuke explained. "He created this giant sauna, and his Shadow was half naked. It was pretty much him wondering about, uh... which side of the fence he was on."

"...Oh." I remembered what those two guys said a few weeks back, that they saw Kanji buck naked. This got me wondering if we were shown on the TV. "And so, you were just seeing if sleeping in the same tent was...safe?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"That wasn't very nice, y'know." Yosuke sighed, and all went silent again. "I got another question."

"What now?" Yosuke asked impatiently.

"Does the Midnight Channel have anything to do with the TV world?"

Souji nodded, "Mhm. We predicted that those who appear on the Midnight Channel are the ones to get kidnapped next."

"Oh, so then that was _me_ on the TV that night then?"

"Yep." Yosuke responded.

"...How the hell was I not able to recognize myself!" I yelled. "I must be losing it. Japan's doing something to my head, I swear."

"Don't blame the country, dude." Yosuke said.

"Maybe it could've been because you were tired?" Souji suggested

"Yeah... that might've been it," I replied. "I was traveling across the sea from Canada, so I'm still not one hundred percent used to the time zone here." Just to prove it, I yawned. This caused the other two to yawn.

"Don't do that," Yosuke said. "I'm tired enough from all the yelling earlier."

"Sorry." A bit more silence. "Another question."

"You like asking them, don't you?" Souji asked.

I chuckled. "I guess I just want to know everything. So...do your Personas talk to you? Like, in your head?"

"Oh, yeah, they do." Yosuke said, then paused for a second. "Jiraiya says 'hi', by the way."

"Haha, hi Jiraiya." I smiled, and glanced at Souji. "How about you, senpai?"

"I'm... a special case," He replied. "I have more than one Persona in my mind."

"Whoa, really?" I asked, and he nodded. "Do... do they talk to you all at once?"

"No, they...talk to me one at a time. Why?"

"Oh, no, I was just thinking that if they all talked to you, you'd probably get a really bad migraine."

Souji chuckled. "Don't worry, I already told them not to do that."

"Well, that better not give them any new ideas," Yosuke chuckled as well.

"Yeah..." There wasn't a lot of talking after that, and I wound up beating my hand off the rock to the music in my head.

Which reminds me, "Yosuke-senpai, you listen to a lot of music, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?" He replied.

"'Cause I was thinking about buying some Japanese CDs. I got the money to do so, but I don't know which singers and bands are good or bad. I was wondering if you'd be able to give me the names of some good ones."

"Hmm... Well, if I were to think off the top of my head... Yumi Kawamura. She's sung some songs in English, but she's got some other good ones, too."

"I see..." I made a mental note of that name. "Anyone else?"

"Uh, let's see..." He put his hand to his chin, then not a five seconds after his eyes shot open and he snapped his fingers. "I got it. Risette!"

"Rizz-who?"

"Risette. Rizz-ette," Yosuke sounded out. "She's this really good singer and big idol, and I think she's around your age. Almost everyone knows of her."

"I've never heard of her," Souji spoke up.

"What! Seriously! Where the hell have you been, man? Risette's super popular! I can't believe I didn't mention of her first!"

"Alright, I'll check out her CDs as well," I said with a nod. "Hey, Junes sells CDs, too, right?"

"Yeah, but not many," Yosuke said. "You may need to go to Okina City for a CD store."

"Out of town?" I asked, and he nodded. "Is it far away from Inaba?"

"Not _too_ far away, but you still need to take a train out there," Yosuke replied. "Why don't we got out there with you? You'll most likely get lost out there."

I laughed, "Yeah, that's true."

"I'll ask Kanji and the girls if they want to come out with us, too," Souji added.

"Alright then, we'll go out on Sunday. That cool with you?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, totally," I nodded with a smile.

"Hey... Are you guys still up?"

Our heads shot to the tent's entrance. "Was that... Yukiko-senpai?" I asked.

"What are you guys doing here!" Yosuke yelled in a whisper. "This is the guy's side!"

"Let us in!" Chie demanded.

"What, why?" I asked. "Won't we get expelled if King Moron finds out?"

"We will!" Yosuke answered me. "Go back to your tent!"

"We can't!" Chie responded. I was about to ask why, again, when we heard a voice from far off.

"Are there any rotten apples out and about! Any indecent students out there...?"

"Morooka..." Souji whispered.

"...He sounds drunk." I said.

Yosuke frowned. "Alright, fine, hurry up and get in!" The entrance unzipped and Chie and Yukiko quickly got in. When they were, I closed the door back up.

"So, why're you two here?" Yosuke asked.

"Well... It's Kanji-kun..." Yukiko answered. She and Chie looked at each other. "He's...out cold."

Our eyes widened. "Out cold! Why?" I asked.

Chie shook her head, "I-I don't know what happened! He just came in and then he... fainted all of a sudden. That's all! ...Right, Yukiko?"

The girl looked a little surprised. "Huh? Uh, y-yeah."

"So there was no way we could sleep with him lying there," Chie continued. "And you know...if we woke him up, he would've made a fuss. That's why we left him there."

"What?" Yosuke asked, "That makes no sense. He busted into your tent, and then suddenly fainted?"

And just like that, Morooka was outside our tent. He started going on about how being insolent and being indecent are two different things, then asked if Souji and Yosuke were asleep. They said they were, and the guy left us alone.

Yosuke sighed. "There goes a couple of years off my lifespan."

"There goes a good pair of boxers," I whispered to myself.

"What did you say?" Yukiko asked me.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all."

"We were nearly expelled just then," Chie sighed.

Yosuke's eyes narrowed at them, "Hey, this is you guys' fault!"

"What!" Chie asked, "What else were we supposed to do!"

"You could've slept over there with Kanji," Souji offered with a smirk.

"Very funny, Souji-kun," Chie shot back. She sighed, "Anyways, we can't leave now. We'll go back in the morning before everyone else wakes up. Is that good enough for you!"

Yosuke sighed and put a hand on his forehead, "Okay, you can stay here."

"You guys better not try any funny stuff while we're asleep." Chie ordered, "Is that clear?"

"Funny stuff?" I asked. "How would we be able to, anyways? There's hardly enough space for the three of us here."

Yosuke's brow furrowed pretty far. "You _owe us_ for this."

The girls nodded nonchalantly, and we set up a barricade using our bags. It was very uncomfortable, to say the least. After a few hours of awkward positioning, I finally managed to fall asleep.

**

* * *

~June 18th~**

**~8:00AM~**

* * *

We somehow slept without breaking any bones, and Chie and Yukiko were out before the sun even rose. Not long after that, they came back, carrying a knocked out Kanji over their shoulders. They dropped him in the tent and ran off again.

When the sun rose, we met up with the girls again and said nothing about the previous night. I followed Yosuke to a river not far from the camp sight. It was pretty-looking, with a waterfall flowing right above it.

"Looks like we're the only ones here!" Yosuke stated the obvious. Kanji frowned a bit, lost in his thoughts and looked off. Yosuke took note of this and asked, "What's wrong? Got a stomach ache?"

"No," Kanji said, "it's just... I thought I got pissed and ran out of the tent last night. It's so weird... Was it a dream? When I woke up, I was back in your tent..."

"I-it was a dream," Chie responded. "Must've been a dream."

Kanji didn't seem to buy it. "O...kay?"

"Alright then, let's get swimming!" Yosuke grinned.

"Swimming?" I asked. "Is that why we're here?"

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you?" Yosuke said.

"No, no one told me," I frowned, and stomped the ground. "Why don't I get told anything!"

"Are you seriously takin' a swim?" Kanji asked. "I think I'll pass... I'm still all stiff."

Yosuke moaned, and looked at Chie and Yukiko. Said second-years looked at him with confusion on their faces. "What are you looking at us for...? If you want to swim, go right ahead."

Yosuke smiled a bit. "You know, you two still owe us."

They started to sweat. "What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are _not_ going in there," Chie insisted. "I mean, we do owe you, but, uhh... uuhhoooh yeah! We don't have swimsuits with us! Man, of all the luck!"

Yukiko nodded and said, "Y-yeah, it really is unfortunate."

"Oh. I see how it is," Yosuke said.

"You see how what is?" Souji asked.

"We put up with your dinner, we save you from King Moron, and you won't even have some fun with us in the water." Yosuke frowned.

"Yeah, I'm still all sore for having to sleep half-way on the rock..." I said, rubbing my neck.

"Oh, n-no... It's really too bad. It'd be no problem if I just had a swimsuit," she laughed sheepishly.

"Well, don't worry about it!" Yosuke reached into his sweater pockets and pulled out two swimsuits, one green and yellow, the other red and white. "Ta-daaa! I got ya covered!" The girls' eyes were wide and their mouths hung open. "They're Junes-brand originals, from our brand-new line of swimwear that just came in for the summer! I had a clerk friend of mine choose 'em for me." His eyebrow rose. "Pretty swanky, huh?"

"Dude, that's just wrong," Chie said flatly.

"Did you have those this whole time...?" Yukiko asked.

"That doesn't matter!" Yosuke said. "C'mon, let's all go swimming!"

"I don't got my trunks here..." I said, "but I could care less about these pants. Sure, I'll swim!"

The girls looked at each other, frowns on their faces. "What should we do, Yukiko...?"

"'It'd be no problem if I just had a swimsuit.'" Yosuke mimicked Chie.

"Was that supposed to be Chie-senpai?" Kanji asked. "Dude, that sucked."

"Ugh... I know I said that, but I never thought you'd have one with you..." Chie groaned.

I leaned over to Souji, "I think they're just stalling." I whispered to him. He nodded with a 'Mhm.'

"Y'know, we _really_ were looking forward to dinner." Yosuke said. Yukiko grumbled at that. "I wonder what would've happened if we never saved you guys last night?"

"Isn't playing the guilt card kinda cheating?" I asked him.

"Don't you want to see two cute girls in bikinis!" He whispered to me harshly.

"Point taken."

Chie waved her hands in the air. "Alright, fine! We'll put on the swimsuits! Sheesh, you never let things go..."

Yosuke grinned widely and pumped his fist in the air. "Oh yeah! That's more like it!" The girls snatched the suits from Yosuke and skulked away. "C'mon, partner, let's go get changed."

"Sure," Souji said and the two of them walked another way. A few minutes and one tossed away sweater later, those two came back, but the girls were still changing.

"Where are they...?" I asked. I wrapped my arms around myself. "I'm cold..."

"How far did they go off to get changed?" Yosuke asked as he looked around.

"C'mon," I heard Chie sigh. "Let's get in." The two girls walked up to us. They were...

"Whoa," was all I could get out. My face immediately turned red, as did Kanji's.

So did the girls'. "S-stop staring at us like that!" She tried to cover up her body as best she could.

"You look cute, Yukiko," Souji said with a kind smile.

"S-stop it..." Yukiko's face turned even more red, but she seemed somewhat delighted.

"How can he stay so calm...?" Kanji whispered.

"I dunno, but I gotta learn from him," I said without averting my eyes from the...scenery.

"Man...!" Yosuke said. "This is going better than I expected! Kinda makes up for having to eat that Mystery Food X last night."

"'Mystery Food X'? Did it really taste that bad to earn its own name?" I asked him.

Yosuke put an hand on my shoulder. "You don't know how much I envy you for not being there." His smile returned and he looked around at us. "But, c'mon, you guys gotta admit that I chose some good suits."

"Didn't you say earlier a friend chose them for you?" Souji asked.

"Bah, details!" Yosuke cried out, then looked at the girls. "Those girls might be childish on the inside, but I bet they're gonna into fine-looking women before long!" He turned to Souji. "Don't you think so?"

"You have a point there..." Souji said, a hand on his chin and a smile on his face.

I looked the girls over as well. "I've gotta agree with you there, senpai. The girls really do look good."

"Alright, that's it," Chie said. "You guys crossed the line."

"Wait, what?" Yosuke asked.

"Definitely," Yukiko added. They looked at each other, nodded, and suddenly charged at Souji and Yosuke. They knocked those two over the edge and into the river. They fell with a scream and landed with a loud splash. Some of the water hit me in the face, and it was rather cold.

"Agh! It's freezing!" Yosuke yelled like a little girl from down below. "You didn't have to push us in!"

"Who cares!" Chie yelled at him, her hands on her hips. "You guys were going in there anyway!"

"Sheesh..." Yukiko said. "Aren't they the worst?"

"Hahaha!" I laughed at them. "Serves ya right for saying things like that!"

"Hey, didn't you just agree with Yosuke...?" Chie asked.

"Huh? WhaaaAAAAAHH!" I was shoved off the cliff as well. I flailed my arms in an attempt to fly my way to safety, but for some reason it didn't seem to work. I landed face first right in front of Souji, and BOY was the water freezing. "GAAH! So cold! So very cold..."

"Dude... we're gonna get them back for this..." Yosuke chattered.

"Yeah... You know it..." Souji said.

Suddenly, Yukiko pierced our eardrums with a shriek, and the next thing we knew Kanji was swimming with us.

"Oh shit, Kanji, you're bleeding!" I yelled. I looked down at the water around me. "Aaannnnd its all over me."

Kanji turned back to the girls. "What was that for! I didn't do anything!"

"What's gotten into you guys!" Yosuke yelled.

"Hmm? Do you hear something over there?" I heard Yukiko say. At first I thought she was talking about us in a 'we're-ignoring-you' fashion, but when I actually strained to listened...

Then we heard Morooka puke.

"Oh, hell no," Kanji mumbled. Small, brown chunks started floating around us. He looked at Yosuke. "Senpai..."

Yosuke hung his head in shame. "Don't. Say it."

"This stuff will never come off me now..." I said quietly.

"Not even a million showers..." Souji whispered.

"Oh, God, I think I'm about to barf now." I grabbed my mouth in desperation.

"NO! GET AWAY!" Yosuke screamed. Everyone backed away from me while I did what I had to do.

**

* * *

WOW this is a lot. But that's cause most of it is the game's actual script :S Don't worry, next chapter will be written entirely by me!**

**Oh, by the way, I bet you $500 you knew what name would come up when Andrew asked about music ;D**

**Also, since Minato was listening to Burn My Dread in P3's opening, Yumi Kawamura is technically part of the Persona world, too. Just letting you guys know!**


	8. CDs and Training

**...**

**...**

**No reviews? Seriously? Was the last chapter not good enough? Or was it rushed, like I thought it was?**

**Anyways, here's the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, only my OC.**

**

* * *

~June 19th~**

**~11:30PM~**

* * *

It wound up being only Yosuke, Souji and Yukiko going to Okina City with me. Apparently, Chie had to take care of some chores at her house, and Kanji had promised his mom on Friday that he'd help at the Textile shop today.

It was nearing lunch time, so the four of us decided to buy some food first before going shopping. I ordered a burger and fries (with root beer. Can't go without root beer), while the others got some Japanese meals that I did not know the names of.

Our conversations were animated over small talk, but along the way Yosuke suggested we enter the TV world tomorrow for some training. I was ecstatic at the idea, but Souji reminded me that I had to get a weapon before he would allow me in there. He told me that the team got their weapons at the blacksmith, known as Daidara, and that they would take me first thing after school to get one.

The talking continued, but at one point Yukiko stopped talking and started thinking.

"Something wrong, senpai?" I asked her.

"Oh, it's nothing..." she said. "It's just that I've been curious about something." She turned to the other guys. "Remember when you guys rescued Kanji-kun and me? We took about two or three weeks to recover." The two nodded, and she continued, "But when we saved Andrew-kun, it only took him a single week to get better."

The boys blinked, looked at each other, then at me. "That's true..." Souji mused.

"You know, I never realized that until now." Yosuke said.

I laughed, "I guess that means I'm just special!"

"Or maybe because we rescued you quickly?" Souji suggested. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Kanji wanted us to save you as quick as we could, so we went straight up to where you were."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that." Yosuke grimaced, "He kept yelling at us and trying to get us into the TV. It was... pretty annoying."

"And exhausting..." Yukiko added. "We hardly took a break on our way to the top floor."

"You better be grateful that we went through so much trouble to get you," Yosuke said with a smirk.

"Hey, I was grateful the moment I saw you guys burst in," I gave an honest smile. "Thanks again."

"You're already out, so there's no point in thanking us again," Souji said smiled as well.

The conversations went on for a bit more until we were finished our meals. On our way to the CD store, I bumped into someone coming out of a hairdresser. A short someone. This kid was wearing a light blue long-sleeved shirt with said sleeves rolled up, as well as a small yellow tie. There was also a dark blue cap covering most of her head.

When I bumped into her, she looked up at me with cold eyes, but she responded peacefully. "Please excuse me," she said in a deep voice. "I wasn't paying attention." She gave a curt nod to my senpai, and walked away.

When she was gone, Yosuke spoke up. "Wasn't that the boy Kanji was with?"

I looked back at him, slightly shocked. "That... That was a boy?"

"Uh, yeah," He answered all-knowingly. "Didn't you see his clothes?"

"But, didn't you see her face?" I asked. "It seemed a little feminine... And the deepness of her voice sounded forced to me..."

"You think so, too?" Souji asked me. Yosuke and Yukiko looked at him with curious faces. "I've thought that was a girl since we first met her, or him, or something."

"Really?" Yukiko asked. "I didn't give it much thought, but now that you guys mention it..."

"You think maybe she's a transvestite?" I asked.

"What! No, that was most obviously a dude!" Yosuke shouted.

"Calm down." Souji sighed, "People are staring at you..."

We looked around us. Some people who had been walking by stopped to watch out antics, and there were even some taking a pictures.

"Hey!" Yosuke growled. "Stop that!" The guy nearly dropped his phone in surprise, and ran away yelping. We chose to ignore the other staring people and went on our way to the CD store.

It was a normal sized store, like what you'd normally find in regular malls. The middle of the store had two rows of CDs going straight down it, while the walls had shelves with more of them, plus some DVDs. We simply browsed these rows and shelves, looking for whatever caught our eyes. I found a CD case with Yumi Kawamura's name on it. The CD was entitled Burn My Dread: Reincarnation. Yosuke told me that one had good songs on it, so I held onto it for purchasing.

We walked around a bit more before I came to 'R' under the Pop genre. I took a quick glance over them, and gasped as my eyes shot wide open.

On one of the CDs with Risette's name, was a girl with red hair that matched the silhouette from my dream-talk thing with Wyvern perfectly.

_Um... Wyvern?_

'_**I know. The resemblance is uncanny.'**_

_But... Didn't you once say something like, "only things connected to you can enter that dream-state?"_

'_**I did say that. But something doesn't seem right.'**_

_You're telling me..._

"Yo, Andrew?" Yosuke's voice brought me back to reality. "Oh, you found her newest CD," he said, and snatched it from me. "Man, she looks so cute...!" He whispered.

I was too busy thinking to realize that Yosuke snatched the case away. When I came back to reality, I sighed at his weird and slightly perverted face as he stared at the CD case. "Did you want that one, senpai?" I asked, "'Cause there's another one here." I pointed to a different CD case with the same picture on it.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure, I'll take this one." Yosuke said, and darted off towards the cashier. Souji and Yukiko came over to me, the two of them holding their own CD cases. "We got our stuff. You ready to go?" Souji asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Unless you guys want to do anymore shopping, I'm good to go."

"Actually, I need some new summer clothes," Yukiko said, "plus my mother wanted a bouquet of a type of flower only found here."

"Ooh, to make the inn a little livelier?" I asked, "Sounds nice!"

"Hey, I'll help you pick out some clothes, Yukiko-san!" Yosuke chuckled as he came back.

"...U-uh... No thanks..." Yukiko said, obviously uncomfortable.

"Leave her alone, senpai..." I smirked, "Besides, _I'd_ be able to pick something better for her."

"Oh ho, is that a competition I'm sensing?" Yosuke grinned.

"No, it's not," Souji interrupted sternly before I could say something else.

"Y-yes, no one's picking clothes for me," Yukiko stuttered. "I'm capable of doing that myself."

"Ah, c'mon. It was just a joke, senpai." I rubbed the back of my head.

"Yeah, it's not like you'd actually consider anything _I_ picked out..." Yosuke said.

I sighed, "Right then, I'm going to buy these now." I made my way to the cash register and bought them. The cashier said I had a good taste in music if I chose a CD with Risette's songs on it, but I told him that it was a suggestion from my friend who frequently had headphones around his neck. I then realised I didn't have a CD player back at the room, so I just took the cheapest one they had there.

The others were already waiting outside the store. Yukiko told us that she was going to look at some clothes, and that it was alright for us to leave without her. Souji was a little reluctant to leave her, but ultimately decided to come back with us to Inaba.

* * *

On the train ride back, Yosuke popped his orange headphones on his ears, reading the names of Risette's songs, while Souji and I started talking.

"So, how are you liking Japan so far?" Souji asked me.

"Really good," I answered. "I find it quite enjoyable, even with all that Persona stuff."

He chuckled, "I'm glad," he said. "I've always been moving around, myself, because of my parents' work-I haven't stayed in any town for more than six months."

"Seriously?" I asked him. "That must be pretty rough, always having to change locations so much."

"I'm used to it," he said. "This time, however, I'm staying in Inaba for a year with my uncle and cousin."

"Nanako-chan, right?" I asked. "I can remember her bright and cheerful face from my second day here."

He blinked, but then smiled, "Oh, right. I had forgotten that."

"I helped that cat down, even though it wasn't hers..."

It was silent again for a minute. I looked at the Risette CD I had bought. Even though it was a few days ago, I can remember that light that appeared in between my Persona and I.

"So, that's what she looks like..." Souji whispered.

"You never heard of her either, huh, senpai?" I asked. "Yosuke-senpai said she was around my age... Hopefully I can meet her someday."

_**'****The reason being so you can clear that thing up?'**_

_Exactly._

Souji chuckled, "I'm not surprised. It's common for kids to want to meet idols, even Nanako."

I glance at him, "Wait, are you calling me a kid?"

"Maybe I am." He said. I frowned at him, then chuckled and lightly punched his arm. I got to know Souji Seta better today.

Souji blinked and frowned suddenly. There was confusion written over his face.

"Senpai?" I asked, "Something wrong?"

"N-no, nothing," he said quickly. He hesitated for a second, then asked, "Do you know anything about the Arcana?"

"Um... Like, the Major or the Minor?" I asked.

"Major."

"Hmm... There's twenty all together, I think... But aside from that, not much. I can name a couple, but that's it." I looked at him, "Why?"

"It's nothing," he repeated. "I was just wondering if you knew of a certain one."

"Which one?"

"Aeon."

"...Can't say I do..." I replied.

"I see..." Souji still looked a little uncertain, but he said nothing else.

We returned to Inaba shortly after, and we all went our separate ways. As soon as I got back to my room, I popped Risette's CD into the new CD player and listened to her sing. She's...really good. Amazing, actually. I wouldn't think anyone fifteen years old would be able to sing this well, but there ya go.

Once I listened to three or four tracks, I decided to switch up the CDs. Yumi Kawamura was pretty good too, but her English isn't the best. It took some straining and focusing, but I managed to get _some_ of the lyrics memorized.

After a few songs from her, I had supper and eventually put myself to sleep.

**

* * *

~June 20th~**

**~3:30PM~**

* * *

"Is it alright for a weapons dealer to have his shop in the shopping district?" I asked. Daidara's was at the beginning of it, just past the book store. Why, I don't know.

"It's fine," the tough-looking man behind the counter said. "As far as anyone's concerned, this is only art. For you lot, they're perfectly good weapons."

"Thanks again for making all this for us," Chie said to him.

"It's no problem," Daidara replied. "I live for this stuff."

I looked over the 'art' all over the store. There were swords, knives, greaves, claws, shields, rods, spears, axes, rapiers, bows, arrows, and a whole lot of other things to choose from.

"What do you got that's light?" I asked the scarred man. "I like all the swords and stuff, but something that's small and easy to carry around is what I'd prefer."

"Hmm..." The man put a hand to his chin, "I'm guessing you'd want something that no one's used yet..." I nodded. He thought for another second, then left the room. He came back with-

"A cleaver?" I took the weapon from his hand and examined it. "Isn't this used for food?"

"It's special, made with a kind of metal you'd find nowhere else," the old man explained. "It can rip through more than just meat and bones, as well as whatever it is you guys fight against."

"Hey, that sound's pretty good," Kanji said.

"Yeah..." I said. I gave it a couple practice swings and smiled. "I'll take it."

"Good, good!" Daidara grinned. "That'll be 27,000 yen."

My heart stopped.

* * *

"Stupid old man asking for so much for this lame-ass knife..." I mumbled as I slid into the TV. I landed in the same place as before, but there was no Teddie around this time. I slipped on the green glasses that he had given me, and marvelled at the sudden clearness of the area.

Souji, who had entered before me, cupped his hands over his mouth. "Teddie!" He shouted. No response came at first, but after a little while the little bear waddled over to us.

"Hey guys!" He said, "I was wondering when you'd come back!"

"We're just here to train today," Chie told him. She slapped me on the back. "We gotta break this guy in if he's gonna help us."

"Sure thing! Where are you guys gonna go?"

"The mansion." Souji answered.

"What?" I asked. "Why there? Can't we go somewhere else?"

"The Shadows in the other places are too weak for us," Yukiko explained.

"But I've never fought anything before. I need to get the hang of things before I can tackle anything hard..."

"You just don't want to go there, right?" Souji asked.

"Wha- That's not..." I stopped mid-sentence. I knew saying it would be futile.

"I'm sorry, Andrew," Souji said. "But we need to get stronger, in case someone else gets thrown in here. Like Yukiko-chan said, the other places have Shadows that we can defeat too easily, and we need all the training we can get."

I was silent for a moment, trying to think of a reason not to go. But Souji was right: as much training as we can get was best. I sadly had no choice but to give in. "Alright, fine." I grumbled.

Souji nodded and turned to Teddie. The bear shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "I forgot the way..."

I face-palmed. "I think I can remember," I said, and walked onto the path in front of us.

* * *

To my surprise, we arrived at the mansion fairly quickly. I never got to see the outside of it, but it looked like...well, like a mansion. Except very, very tall. It was white with green window sills, had a somewhat large garden with statues of my Shadow all around the place, and a path leading right up to the big, green double doors.

"So this is the place I created, huh..." I said.

"You know, this is one of those times where the outside of the building is the same size as the inside," Chie said with a giggle.

"Well, that's certainly true," Yosuke added. "Of course, the sauna wasn't like that. A place like that shouldn't have had that many floors."

"Uh... Could you not bring that up, senpai?" Kanji asked.

"Heh, sorry, dude."

"Hey, Souji-kun." Yukiko walked up to him, "Who will be in today's party?"

Souji looked at all of us, then at me specifically. "Andrew, you'll be on the team."

"Of course," I said, nodding.

"I'll also take Yukiko-chan with me..." Souji said to the girl, who smiled brightly at him, and looked at the others. "And you guys do rock-paper-scissors to figure out who's in."

"What!" Yosuke yelled, "What kind of decision-making is that?"

"I'm not really in the mood for any tough choices today," Souji said.

"And yet, you chose Yukiko as if it were nothing..." Chie said under her breath.

Kanji sighed, "Alright, guys, let's just do this." My other two senpai nodded and they formed a circle.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Go!"

"Haha! I win!" Chie jumped up in victory. Kanji and Yosuke just grumbled and shuffled back to where Teddie was. "Okay, leader, do what you do best and lead the way!"

"Right," Souji said. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Is that one of them?" I pointed to a purple sludge-looking thing clawing its way on the floor.

"Yeah, it is," Souji said. "Be careful when you go to hit it. More might appear when you do."

"Try and hit it from behind, too," Yukiko advised. "They get startled when you do, and we can get a few extra hits in."

"Alright!" I said as I charged for it. When I got somewhat close to it, the Shadow made a sort of gurgling noise. It started to turn around, and I had to swing my cleaver quickly to get a hit on it. I slashed its back, and suddenly four disembodied hands emerged from the goo. "What the-!" I leapt back as far as I could, which admittedly wasn't that far. I landed right in front of my senpai.

"Andrew, can you take one of them?" Souji asked quickly.

"Yeah, I think so!" I replied.

"Okay, everyone do as you like!" He said, and charged for the hand furthest to the right. Chie and Yukiko went for two of the three remaining hands, and I settled for the one on the left.

Without a moment to spare, the hand scuttled over to me hastily, and I just barely managed to dodge its hand slap. By missing its target, the hand just laid there, most likely in pain for slapping the ground so hard. I took the chance and did three diagonal slashes on it, two left and one right, then followed up for an uppercut slash. The hand went flying, but it was still squirming after it landed.

The hand righted itself, but instead of attempting to slap me again, it snapped its fingers. I suddenly felt myself getting colder, and before I knew it a large icicle jutted itself out of the ground.

It didn't pierce my skin, but it sent me up in the air. "Whaaaaaaa!" I screamed, and I landed face first on the ground.

"Ahh! Andy, are you okay!" Teddie yelled from behind me.

I groaned as I pushed myself up. "Yeah, I'm just fine." I rubbed my nose to try and quell the pain, but I should've figured something like that wouldn't work.

_**'Andrew.'**_

_Now's not the best time, you know!_

_**'Summon me. I can use magic similar to what that hand did.'**_

_How do I do that!_

_**'Just call me forth!'**_

I could feel myself getting restless. A blue card floated down in front of me, much like the one that appeared when I gained my Persona.

_**'Break it!'**_

Without realizing what I was doing, I raised my cleaver over my head with both hands. "Wyvern!" I yelled, and brought the knife down onto the card. It suddenly erupted into shards of broken glass as blue smoke surrounded me, and I heard Wyvern's roar from above. The hand suddenly burst into a sea of flames, and there was nothing left of it.

Wyvern disappeared from overhead, and I stood there looking like an idiot. "The heck did I just do?"

"Andrew-kun!" I looked to my side to see the others run up to me. "You beat it!" Yukiko cheered.

"A-ah, yeah..." I said hesitantly. "I... honestly had no idea what I was doing."

"We were all like that once," Chie said with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"I'm sure I will," I said. "It was still exhilarating, anyhow!"

"Good," Souji said. "Then let's move on. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

* * *

"You know, I just realized something," Yosuke spoke up.

We all turned to him. "What?" Chie asked.

"After all this time, Andrew never named his weapon yet."

They all looked at me, and I looked at the cleaver. "I...didn't know I was supposed to?"

"Daidara names most of our weapons, since he made them," Chie said, "but he allows the newcomers to name the first weapon they get."

"Huh..." I said as I thought it over. "Cleaver...it cleaves stuff..." I thought of a possibility, but my mind figured I should just laugh at it instead.

"Hmm?" Yukiko looked at me. "What's so funny?"

"I thought of a name, but I don't think it's appropriate."

"What is it? Tell us!" She insisted.

I looked around nervously, then whispered, "Cl...Cleavage."

Silence. Then laughs from the guys. The girls just blushed and looked away.

"Cleavage? What's that?" Teddie asked. "Some kind of food?" Now _that_ made everyone crack up.

* * *

"There's another one!" Chie pointed out. This one was different, since it was a floating blob that hovered its way around the hall. "I'll get it!" Without another word she dashed at the floating thing. She did a really high somersault and axe kicked the Shadow. It split into two this time, one a giant bird-thing, and the other a weight measurement scale.

"Chie-chan, Andrew!" Souji called, "Take the scale! Yukiko-chan, you're with me!"

"Right!" We all yelled. Souji and Yukiko charged at the bird, while Chie and I surrounded the scale.

"You wanna take care of this one?" Chie asked.

"Only if you don't want to," I returned.

"Okay then!" A card similar to mine floated in front of her. She spun around and high kicked it, and a tall woman clad in a yellow and black jumpsuit wielding a dual naginata appeared over her. "Protect me, Tomoe!" Chie cried, and the Persona slashed her weapon on the scale. It still stood however, and it unleashed its fury upon us in the form of its own blasts of fire. Strangely, I didn't feel a thing, while Chie was knocked down.

"Senpai!" I yelled to her.

"D-don't worry!" She said, and then gasped, "Look out!"

I couldn't react quick enough. The scale somehow jumped up in the air, and came slamming down on my foot. And the sad part was, its bottom was particularly sharp.

"Argh!" I grasped my foot in pain as the scale flew away. I did my best to ignore the pain and look straight at the animate object. "You're dead!" I yelled, and I slashed at the card that appeared before me. Wyvern appeared above me again, this time folding its wings onto its body and flying straight at the scale. That, sadly, still didn't make it disappear.

Chie managed to get back up, and went in for the kill. "Hi-ya!" She shouted, and punted the thing straight to me.

"I got this!" I yelled, and swung my cleaver like a mini baseball bat. This caused it to explode into purple smog right in my face. I held my breath until it passed over me since I didn't know _what_ the hell a Shadow was, nor did I want one floating in my lungs. When it all vanished I allowed myself to breath again.

"Good job!" Chie said, lightly punching me in the shoulder.

"Ah, it was no big deal." I said. I noticed that Souji and Yukiko were still fighting the giant bird thing, so Chie and I rushed over to them.

"How're you guys managing?" Chie asked.

"Fine, thanks!" Yukiko called out, and swiped her fan(?) at her card. The pink cheerleader from before showed up, and blasted the bird with a fire similar to mine. It still stood (or flew), however, but Souji leapt for it, shoving his sword through its skull. It, too, turned to a purple fog, and promptly disappeared.

"Wowee, Sensei!" Teddie yelled as he, Yosuke and Kanji came up to us. "You're really good!"

"What about me?" Yukiko pouted, "I gave an opening."

"You were both good!" Teddie cheered. "You, too Chie-chan!"

"Thanks!" Chie smiled at him.

"What about me?" I asked. "Did I fight good?"

"Eh."

"What!"

* * *

It wasn't long after that until Souji switched Chie and me for Yosuke and Kanji. I, myself, was rather worn out. I had no idea using your Persona drained your physical and spiritual energy. Once, I was about to collapse, but Yukiko used a magic skill to bring my strength right back to maximum.

The leading party found another shadow, this time consisting of two giant, hulking men. I noticed this time that Souji once again paired up with Yukiko, while sticking Yosuke and Kanji together.

"Does Souji-senpai like Yukiko-senpai or something?" I asked Chie.

Chie glanced at Souji and Yukiko. "I'm...not sure. I mean, I know those two are close and spend a lot of time together, but I figured they were just good friends."

"Yesterday, when we were coming back from Okina, Souji-senpai seemed to wanna stay behind with Yukiko-senpai to pick out summer clothes." I paused for a second, "And saying 'senpai' after your names is getting kind of annoying."

"You're our underclassmen, so you have to call us senpai," she said with a grin. "Anyway, seriously? I never would've thought he'd _like_ like her."

"I've only noticed the signs, myself... Like how he chose Yukiko-senpai right after me, and then got you guys to play rock-paper-scissors to see who'll be the last ones fighting."

"Yeah... Now that I think about it, I see what you mean."

Suddenly, Yosuke went flying in between us, but we didn't bat an eye at him.

* * *

"Whew!" I yelled, "I'm beat!" I wiped the invisible sweat off my forehead.

"It's your first time here, so I'm hardly surprised," Kanji said.

"Shall we call it a day?" Souji asked. "We're nearing the top room, and according to Teddie, there's a strong Shadow there."

"Yep!" Teddie declared. "It's a really tough one!"

"Then, we'll save it for another day?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah," Souji said. "Let's go back."

And go back we did.

**

* * *

Finally done. About damn time too.**

**I better get reviews for this one, or something that says how I could do better on this story, 'cause apparently I'm doing SOMETHING wrong. :(**

**Thanks, anyways.**

**By the way, here's some things I'd like to point out:**

**-On the train ride back to Inaba, the Andrew Ricketts Social Link of the Aeon Arcana has been established.**

**-Andrew slashing the hand three times, left, then right, then left, in diagonals, then upper-cutting it, is his critical hit.**

**-Andrew using his weapon as a sort of baseball bat will be his follow-up move, but it'll change so that he charges up and swings with one arm. And this won't be until after the S. Link is past rank three.**

**-Chie Galactic Punted the scale to Andrew. Just so you know.**


	9. Celebrity

**I got some reviews! Sweet! Let's skip greetings and get on with them:**

**Gamerof1458: **Thank you for saying that. I've already got a couple of the S.L. events planned, as well as the plot of it all (like how Naoto's is that separate mystery, etc). Andrew's resolved Persona will be similar to Wyvern, but that's all I'll say. As for the pairings... I'm hoping most of you can take hints and have already figured the main one out XD. And yeah, the cross-dressing scene will still be in, but it'll be a bit different, since there's four girls and five guys. And don't forget about the other scenes as well!

**Astrih Konnash: **I have to agree with you that the camping trip is rather humorous, but to me it's not the funniest. Which one is my favorite, you ask? Two words: King's Game! Best. Scene. Ever. Also, since Kanji didn't suffer from Mystery Food X, I assumed he was with the first years, so spared Andrew on that one.

As for your second review, I was wondering when someone would notice the name's title. I wanted to put something relating to the story's main character (that's allowed to be revealed right now :P), so I went with his Arcana.

**Okay, I just want to warn you guys on something, though I know I said this in one of the first chapters: this story will be part of a series, and the second (or third) story will be, pretty much, one big crossover with other games. So if any of you reading this don't like that stuff, I'd be wary, since there are still plot elements from that second or third story that will be in this one.**

**Just sayin'. Now on with this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Andrew Ricketts, and nothing else. Persona 4 belongs to Atlus, who I want to make a P4P or P4DS or something.**

**

* * *

~June 21st~**

**~2:30AM~**

* * *

My eyes opened and I looked around. It seems that Wyvern summoned me to this place in my dreams again. Like I predicted, he appeared before me.

_**'Andrew. I must ask you something.'**_

"What is it?" I asked him.

_**'What exactly do you plan to do if you do meet this 'Risette'? What if she, too, has no answers, and instead thinks of you as a mad man?'**_

"I already thought about that," I replied. "I'll tell her that I had this one dream where I envisioned her silhouette, and if she has absolutely no clue what I'm saying, she'll probably shrug it off as if I was her number one fan or something."

_**'And how will you go about actually finding her?'**_

"I...think I heard someone in my class yesterday morning say that Risette may be coming to Inaba... I'm not really sure of the details, so I'll have to look into it."

_**'That may be your best chance to get answers.'**_

"Yeah... I'm hoping to get this figured out as soon as I can." I looked at my Persona, "You said that there's absolutely no way anything else can be in here, unless you let it in, right?"

_**'I said something similar, yes. I had said, 'Anything without a strong connection to you won't be able to enter this area unless I allow it.' However, if it has a strong enough connection to you, whatever it may be can enter this place by force, and I'd have little to no control over it.'**_

"I see..." I put a hand to my chin, "You think that me and Risette are connected somehow?"

_**'Let us not jump to conclusions yet. We still don't one hundred percent know if she is able to come into here on her own-'**_

The dragon before me suddenly gasped, and disappeared from my sight.

"Wyvern?" I yelled, and suddenly I felt something in me. As if it were tugging on me, trying to point me in a certain direction. I looked to where this feeling was telling me, and I saw something red.

I gasped. There, lying some twenty feet away, was Risette herself.

"Wha- ...Well, that answers that question..." I whispered. The girl started to stir, and before long she stood up. She wore a pink tank-top with hearts on it and red slack pants, almost like pyjamas. Her eyes were unfocused, but she seemed to be looking right at me, though she probably didn't see me.

"Where... Oh, I'm here again..." She said to herself. She rubbed her eyes and strained to see ahead of her. She must've seen me then, because her eyes shot open. "Wh-who are you?"

"Uh, I'm... Andrew." I said. Considering that I remembered everything that happens in here, she might be able to as well, so I decided to answer her without giving too much info away. "You're... Risette, aren't you?"

She calmed down a bit, but her gaze didn't leave me. "Yeah...that's me." She glanced around slightly, "Where exactly am I? How did I get here?"

"Don't worry," I said. "You're only dreaming."

She blinked, "I am? Then..." She clasped her hands together, "Why does it feel so real?" She then put a hand on her chest, "And why do I feel something... as if it's pointing right at you?"

I blinked. "You feel it, too?" I asked her. "I got something in me telling me to go where you are..."

"So... are you real, then?" She asked, with a little...sorrow in her eyes? "Like, not a dream?"

"Uh... n-no..." I said sheepishly, rubbing my neck, "I'm real too... But I know this place is just a dream."

Her brow furrowed, "Then how do I know you didn't just drag me here?"

"Ah, that's... That's because you just got here. I was already when you appeared..."

"...Really..." She opted to say. She looked around a bit, "So, then, how'd you get here? If you're real, too, then you must've had some way to get here?"

_Can't tell her about our Personas..._

"The same reason as you, I guess..." I said. "I don't know how I got here either."

"And yet, you somehow know this is all a dream..." Her eyes narrowed. She didn't seem like the easily-trusting-someone type.

"This, uh...happened to me before," I said honestly. "I woke up eventually and everything was fine."

She seemed to process that for a second. She looked at me, up and down. "When was that? Recently?"

"Um...yeah, I think..." When was it again? It was the on the day I returned to school... "Thursday... I think."

She blinked. "I think... I saw you then."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, as weird as it sounds..." She said. "On Thursday, I got sent to this place as well, while I was asleep... And I think I saw you. Well, it was a silhouette of you... You're tall, and so was that thing... About the same height, I think."

_So she saw me like that, too? Well, now I don't have to ask her about it... But, she identified me by how tall I am? I guess that's no surprise, 'cause Japanese people are so short... Actually, no, Kanji's taller than I am._

"So... what were you doing here?" She asked, and looked around some more. "There doesn't seem to be much here..."

"I was talking to my Per... ..._friend_, earlier..." I caught myself, thankfully. "But he vanished as soon as you appeared."

"Oh... Um, sorry about that..."

"No, don't worry. He'll come back...sometime. Eventually."

She giggled, a small bit. "My name's... Rise Kujikawa."

"Kuji... Oh, right, not your stage name... Your real name." Her smile turned upside down again, and she looked a little sad. "Hey, uh... You okay?"

"Huh?" She looked back at me. "Oh, yeah. I'm okay..."

"Uh, I'm Andrew Ricketts," I introduced. "As you could probably tell by my name, I'm not from Japan."

"Though, you're in Japan right now, I'm guessing?" She tilted her head.

"Yeah, in a town called Inaba."

She blinked. "That's where I was born." She frowned again. "Hey, did you watch the news on Sunday night?"

"Hmm? No, I don't think... Ironically, I was listening to your newest album."

"Oh... I see... Well, everyone's oughta know it by now, so there's no harm in telling you, I guess." She sighed. "I'm going back to Inaba because of...um, sickness."

"As in...not a concert or anything? You're coming back to stay?"

She nodded. "I'll be taking a short break from being an idol, so once I get better I'll be gone."

"Huh..." I said. "Then maybe we might get a chance to meet, face to face."

"Yeah... maybe." She looked sad again, then back up to me. "My grandma runs a tofu shop in the shopping district, so that's where I'll be staying... Though I'm sure it'll be crowded by the time I get there..."

I blinked. "Where are you now?"

"I'm on the road now, driving to Inaba. I'll be there by tomorrow." She looked into my eyes and asked, "What you said about you being real, is that true? You're not some figment of my imagination, are you?"

"Uh, no." I said, "I'm perfectly real."

She smiled. A little. "Good. At least I'll know a...somewhat familiar face when I get there."

I smiled a little as well, and was about to say something, but I heard something from afar. A...knocking?

_"Andrew-kun!" _I heard coming from...well, from everywhere. _"It's almost time for school, get up!"_

I gasped, "Yukiko-senpai?"

"Who?" Rise asked.

"My senpai. We live in the same building." I realized that sounded so wrong on so many levels, so I continued, "Her family owns an inn and since I'm not from Japan, I'm staying in it."

Was that a bit of...relief in her eyes? "Oh... okay."

The world around me suddenly got brighter. "Huh? What's happening?" Apparently Rise was seeing the same thing.

"I think... we're waking up?" I offered, and that feeling from earlier from before vanished.

"Guh!" I jolted up from my futon with a grunt. I immediately heard knocking on the sliding door.

"Andrew-kun!" Yukiko yelled from outside the door.

"Yeah, yeah!" I shouted back, "I'm up now!"

Her knocking stopped, and she said, "Well hurry up! School starts in half an hour!" And I promptly heard her footsteps running away. I glanced at my alarm clock. The time read 8:00 exactly.

I jumped out of bed and did all that needed to be done.

**~3:30PM~**

"Everyone, remember to watch the Midnight Channel tonight," Souji instructed to each of us. "I'm under the impression Risette will be on it tonight, so we'll have to make sure."

"Right," we all said, and each went our own ways, mine being the same as Yukiko's. She asked me about this morning, about why it took me so long to answer her. I truthfully said it was a dream that I was too caught up in. I left the part about Rise out, 'cause she might've thought I was dreaming about doing...something else.

**

* * *

~June 22nd~**

**~12:00AM~**

* * *

So, I watched the Midnight Channel, like Souji instructed. And you know what I saw?

Boobs.

...Not like that was a bad thing, though. I mean, it was most definitely Rise on the channel, since I saw her hair on it. But the fact that she was showing off... herself... was weird. Did she do that stuff in her commercials?

My cell rang suddenly, and I saw Kanji's name written on the screen.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Did you see that!" He asked, a little too loudly.

"You mean did I see them?" My attempt at a little humor went unnoticed, sadly.

"Dude, what was up with that! I mean, was there any point in moving around like that!"

"Pipe down, man. You're gonna make everyone here wake up."

"Huh...? Oh, right, you live in the inn..." I rolled my eyes. "So...what're we gonna do?"

"I'm guess we'll have to keep an eye on her, but that's pretty much for Souji-senpai to decide."

"Yeah...you're right." He breathed heavily. "Alright then, see ya tomorrow."

"Right..." I hung up my phone and stared at the now empty screen. "If Rise really was on the Midnight Channel, does that mean she actually will be kidnapped...?" I did my best to forget those thoughts and tucked myself into bed.

**

* * *

~3:30PM~**

The six of us were gathered in the second-year classroom, about to discuss what was happening. Rise had been right when she said everyone oughta know about her coming to town, because everyone was already talking about her.

"I've been hearing that there's a big crowd at Marukyu," Yukiko said.

"I'm not surprised," Chie replied. "But was it really Rise on yesterday's Midnight Channel? Didn't she seem a little...different?"

"It was her, no doubt about it!" Yosuke said. "Her curves, her posture... Even her beautiful, slim legs!"

"...Dude, seriously?" I asked, glaring at him. "You sound like an old pervert."

"Wha- I do not!"

"Yeah, you kinda do." Chie agreed with me.

We all stared at him, until he suddenly slapped Kanji on the back. "Anyways, I'm positive! Right!" That was a hard slap.

Kanji just ignored it, and looked out the window. "Uh... are we going?" he asked. "I don't really care about celebrities, but it's not like I got anything better to do... Sure, I'll tag along."

"So will I," I announced. "I said it before, but I actually want to meet Ms. Kujikawa." We all looked towards the girls.

"Sorry, but me and Yukiko have plans," Chie said. "Give us a call if anything comes up." And the two of them left.

When they left, Yosuke turned to us, "Well, shall we get going? But let's be clear on one thing: we're not spectators. We're on an investigation, got it?"

"Of course." Souji said. Me and Kanji nodded, and we all left for the tofu shop.

* * *

As we left the school grounds, the other three started chatting about something. I wasn't listening, so I didn't know what they were talking about. I was too busy thinking of things.

_So...if Rise remembers that dream, what then?_

_**'Then she'll remember you and, hopefully, won't make a scene about it.'**_

_Right. But there's something else on my mind..._

_**'And that is?'**_

_What was that feeling I was...uh, feeling? Like it was pointing me to her..._

_**'There are so many things we know of that we know nothing about...'**_

_Yeah, and it's getting kinda frustrating._

_**'That was an understatement, was it not?'**_

_You got it._

"...What do you think, Andrew?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked to Yosuke. He and the others were looking at me expectedly.

"Uh... What were we talking about?"

"We were talking about what we'll say to Rise when we meet her," Souji replied.

"Uh... 'Hi, how ya doin'?'"

"We're not trying to hit on her, ya know..." Kanji sighed.

'Says you', I wanted to say. But I knew he was right. "Maybe we should just warn her about the kidnappings? I mean, downright telling her that she may be the next victim might get her suspicious and stuff."

"I agree," Souji said. "We need to tell her without directly telling her."

"Okay, confusing much," Kanji said.

"We'll just have to drop some hints and hope that she'll catch along. Right?" Yosuke asked.

"Right," Souji said.

We walked along the road to the shopping district, chatting about different things. And then, I felt something. It was the same thing from the other night, when Rise and I were in the dream-thing. I felt...something. I didn't know how else to describe it, but it was just this...feeling. It was like it was spreading out all over the area, but not directly behind us. But I realized, as we walked closer, I felt it behind me a bit, too.

"Andrew, you okay?" Kanji asked. "You're fallin' behind."

"Huh?" I blinked and rushed up to the others. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just felt...something strange..."

"Like what?" Yosuke asked.

I shook my head. "No, nothing. It's okay."

_Actually, it isn't. But I don't want to trouble them._

As we walked toward the shopping district, the feeling became stronger, and I figured it was centered around Rise, just like in the dream. My predictions came true, because as we neared the gas station, I felt it center in one specific location. When walked on the street, the feeling was pointing me towards a certain building, not far from where we were.

And in front of that certain building was a large crowd of people, just standing around. A few people were inside, and a few were out. As we got closer to the building I noticed that Adachi fellow from the other day standing outside the shop, waving a light around.

"Is he directing people away from the shop?" I asked.

"Seems that way," Souji said.

"Hmm?" Yosuke seemed to get out of his most-likely-sick fantasies quick enough to see the police officer in front of him. "Um, Mr. Detective, did something happen?"

Adachi jumped at Yosuke's voice, but became calm again when he saw us. "Oh, it's you guys," he said. "Ai yi yi... These gawkers keep streaming in with their cars, trying to park in the middle of the shopping district."

"Why's that?" Kanji asked.

"Don't you know?" Adachi asked. "Rise Kujikawa's here." He suddenly dawned a big grin, "Hey, did you see her already? Is she there? Which is it?"

"Calm down man, we just got here ourselves." I told him.

"And why's a plainclothes detective here doing traffic control?" Kanji asked rather intimidating.

"Oh, uh, well... The Inaba Police Department isn't that big, and we don't have enough staff..." Adachi said rather quickly. "Well, I still have work to do, so I'll see you later." He walked away pretty fast, too.

We all looked at Kanji, amazed. "Dude," Yosuke said, "You managed to scare off a police detective on _active duty._"

_Haha, duty._

"I wasn't trying to scare the guy... I just said what I was thinking," Kanji defended.

"But you were right," Yosuke continued, "it's weird for the police to come out like this..."

"Maybe there were some people who were trying to force their way into the house," I suggested. "I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people who want to meet Rise."

"Maybe, maybe not," Souji said. "There are a lot of people who'd want to meet her, yes, but I doubt they'd go so far as to break into her home."

"Hey," Yosuke said. "you think the police suspect that Rise is the next target, too?"

"Alright, clear out, coming through!" A loud and familiar voice came from inside the tofu shop. "Hey, Adachi!" Detective Dojima walked out of the building with a coat slung over his shoulders. He looked around for the other detective, but he was no longer here. "Dammit, I told him not to leave his post..." His eyes widened as they landed on us. "What are you guys doing-" He walked down the steps to us, and he stared right at Kanji. "Hmm? Kanji Tatsumi...! Are you friends with them?" He glance at me next. "And you two, Andrew? How do you know them?"

"I...met them at school one day," I said, which was close enough to the truth.

"...If you say so," Dojima said. "So I'll ask again: what are you all doing here?"

"We came to see Rise," Souji told him.

"...Hmph," was all the detective said.

"Oh, well, um..." Yosuke stumbled. "W-well, who wouldn't want to come check it out if they found out an idol's family ran an ordinary tofu store? I'm, uh... a big fan!"

"So am I," I said, a lot more calmly than my senpai.

Dojima scratched his head, but didn't give it any more thought. "Fine," he sighed. "But remember. She might be a celebrity, but this is her home. Try not to bother her and her family too much." And with that, he left.

Kanji turned to Souji and said, "That cop's your uncle, eh?"

"Really?" I turned to him as well. "He got me to answer a few questions in Junes after my first trip to the TV world."

"Yeah, he is," Souji said. "He's Nanako's father."

"So, what the hell was that about? Are you guys under suspicion...?"

"Well, they did take us in once..." Yosuke frowned. "But we can't just tell him everything, right? If we say anything about the other world, we'll look more suspicious. They'll be watching us all the time."

"Got a point there..." Kanji said.

"Then it's a good thing I kept my mouth shut back then..." I said quietly.

"Man, there's no one here but the old lady," a voice in the crowd rang out. "Risette isn't here after all..."

"I heard that she really is already here," another one said, "but it might've been just a rumor... Well, it was fun wile it lasted." The crowd started to become smaller until it was only the four of us left.

"A rumor?" Yosuke practically screamed. "What, she's not here? Seriously?"

"Oh, no, she's here alright," I said. I didn't realize what it was I said until actually I said it.

"Huh?" Yosuke asked. "How do you know that?"

"I, uh... Just have this...feeling?" I said. It's so fun to say the truth yet have it mean something completely different.

"You sounded pretty confident when you said it," Kanji said.

"That's because, uh..." I did my best to think quickly. "W-well, why don't we just go in and see? We'll never know for sure if she's in there if we don't check."

"Yeah, I guess so," Yosuke said. "Now that all those people are gone, this is our chance. I'll buy something to make us look less suspicious."

"Get some ganmodoki," Souji recommended.

"How'd you know I can't eat tofu?" Yosuke asked. "Wow, that's considerate of you."

"Wait, you can't eat tofu, yet you were going to buy some anyway?" I asked.

He chose to ignore me. "Wait, what's ganmodoki again? Is it the one with the rice cake in it?"

Kanji looked at him as if he were crazy. "There's no rice cakes in 'em..." he said. "They're sorta like... fried tofu patties with veggies and stuff mixed in, and..."

And then Kanji went on to explain it all. I understood almost none of it, but I let him continue nonetheless.

"Oh, okay!" Yosuke said finally. "I know what you mean. I think I can eat that."

"Then let's go in already," I said, and walked up the stairs. The others followed right behind me.

The store wasn't that big. There were different kinds of tofu all out in front, but it was a little too easy to see the kitchen where the stuff was made. I always thought that these kind of places had the kitchens hidden from the customers, but, once again, I'm wrong.

There was a girl working in the back, and judging by this new sixth sense of mine, my guess was that she was Rise. She must've felt it, too, because the moment I walked in she turned around.

"You...!" She gasped.

The others heard her say that, and they all looked at me. "What does she mean, you...?" Yosuke said , but he forgot about it quickly. "B-but... never mind that for now!" He ran straight up to her, Souji and Kanji close behind. "Are you really Risette!"

She looked at him with a sad expression, but I could somehow tell that she was annoyed. "What do you want?" she asked.

Yosuke must've remembered what he had said back at school, because his posture quickly changed. "Oh, sorry, uh... Some... tofu, please!"

Rise raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him. "Which kind?"

"H-huh? Which one's which again...?"

"You forgot that easily?" I asked him.

"S-shut up!" he said.

Rise quickly glanced at me, but turned back to Yosuke. "If you're going to eat it by itself, you should get silken," the girl explained. "Momen's better for cooking... Depends on how you use it."

He must've been baffled by all of this, 'cause his mind just went ker-_plunk_. "Psst! Guys, order something!"

"What?" I asked. "Why us? You just said you'll get that gandomoki, or whatever it was outside."

Kanji sighed and turned to Rise. "Dude here wants four ganmodoki."

"Ganmodoki. That's how you say it."

"Oh, I see..." Rise said quietly. "I'll go get them." She walked past us to the front counters, but as she did, she looked me in the eyes. I smiled a little, but she just ignored it and went on past.

"Wow..." Yosuke whispered to us. "She's nothing like she seems on TV... I wonder if she's just tired."

"Well, it's either that, or she's just really annoyed at everyone who was here earlier," I answered. I glanced at Yosuke. "That probably means us, too, senpai."

"Oh... Yeah, I suppose you're right." Yosuke sighed. He blinked suddenly, and said, "Wait, we haven't done what we came here for yet!" He looked over at Rise. "Um...!" She only looked up at him with that tired expression. "H-have you noticed anything weird lately?"

"Weird?" she asked. "Like...stalkers?" She looked us over, me especially. "Are...you guys fans of mine?" I'm guessing she didn't want to bring up that whole dream business, because sense it didn't make.

Souji and Kanji looked at Yosuke and me. "I wouldn't say 'we,' but yeah, these two are big fans," Kanji told her.

"Y-you little...!" Yosuke yelled at him. "Why'd you let that slip!"

"'Her curves, her posture, even her beautiful slim legs...'" Kanji imitated. "Ya finished checking 'em out yet, or what?"

"Waaaaaah!" Yosuke screamed. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? I didn't say that! I never said any of that!"

"Liiiies," I smirked, and turned to Rise. "I'm a fan of yours, too, but not exactly for those reasons."

"I... see." She said simply.

Yosuke sighed and turned to Rise. "Moving along," he said, "maybe you know already, but it's dangerous in Inaba. That's why we've been investigating stuff."

"Oh yeah?" was all Rise said.

"I don't think she get's it," I said to Souji.

"Let me ask you this then," Souji said. "Do you know about the TV show that comes on at midnight?"

"It's not a regularly scheduled program," Yosuke said, "its... How do I say this..."

"That thing that was on last night?" Rise asked. "The Midnight Channel, yeah?"

"Oh, so you know about it?" I asked.

"Well, she just said the name, so she must know about it," Kanji said in a snarkish manner.

"Dude. Shut up."

"Wait, hold on!" Yosuke said. "You mean you saw it last night!"

"I heard the rumors from some friends of mine," Rise said. "But that girl last night wasn't me. I've never been filmed wearing that swimsuit before." Her face scrunched a bit. "And the bustline..." We waited for her to continue. She looked away and blushed slightly. "...Mine aren't that big."

Well then.

"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean now..." Yosuke said.

Cue the laughter from me.

"D-did you just say that!" I gasped. "How could you let something like that slip?" Soon enough, Kanji and Souji started chuckling. Even Rise herself was giggling at him.

"I-I mean...!" Yosuke shouted. "I didn't...! Oh, what am I saying!" He bowed to her. "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Don't apologize so much," Rise said with a smile. "You're funny."

He stood right back up. "Hey, she's smiling," Yosuke grinned.

Rise grumbled because her bad mood was lifted, but she looked at us. "What's that show about, anyway?"

"We're not too sure about that," Souji sighed. "But you realize strange things have been happening here, right?"

"I heard about it, but I didn't think it over too much..." Rise answered.

"Well," I said, "we think the people who appear on the Midnight Channel are the ones who get kidnapped next."

Rise's eyes widened and she gasped a little. "I know this is sudden," Kanji said, "but we're not lying."

"Yeah," Yosuke nodded, "that's why we though you should know about it."

She processed all of this new information. "So what I saw wasn't a dream..." She said. "I was tired, but I couldn't sleep. It was raining out, so I decided to check out that rumor." She frowned. "I didn't know it was real, though..." She looked up at us, a small smile on her face. "Alright, thanks. I'll be careful."

She went back to taking out the tofu. It was then that Yosuke spoke what was on his mind. "So... do you know Andrew?"

Rise's head shot up, her eyes wide again. "Huh...? Uh...wh-who?"

Yosuke put a hand on my shoulder. "This guy right here," he said. "When we came in, you seemed to know him from somewhere." He looked at me. "And you, too. It was like you knew right away that she was here."

"That's... That's because it was on the news," I lied. "Y-yeah, the news report on Sunday said that Rise-chan would be coming back to Inaba, and I just believed it."

"O...kay then," he said, thankfully buying it. "But that doesn't explain how you know him."

Rise seriously wasn't ready for this. She kept fumbling with her words. "Um, that's because, ah..."

"Dude, stop pressuring her," I said, a little too harshly. "Can't you tell she's had a long day?" It actually wasn't that hard to notice it. There were bags under her eyes, and she had been yawning a bit during our talk.

"Uh, y-you're right," Yosuke said. "Sorry... again."

"...Mmm," Rise acknowledged his apology, but said nothing further. She finished packing the tofu and came up to us with it. "Here you go, four ganmo. That'll be 800 yen." She smiled a bit and said, "There's extra tofu in there for everyone... A little thank you for worrying about me."

"Whoa, seriously? Thanks!" Yosuke smiled brightly and accepted the bag from her.

"Yosuke-senpai, you can't eat tofu, right?" Kanji asked. "Want me to take yours?"

"Hell no!" he shouted. "I always eat what people give me." He took out his wallet and paid the 800 yen.

I took this opportunity to snatch the bag from him, but I nearly dropped it from the weight. "Wow, how much is in here?" I asked. "You must've put a little extra in here for it to be this heavy."

"Yeah," Rise said. "It should last for a few days if you don't eat it all at once."

"Alright then, thanks," Souji said. He turned to the exit. "We'll be taking our leave now."

"Yeah, thanks," Kanji said. He and Souji walked out while Yosuke grabbed the bag from me again and left. I was about to follow them when I felt a tugging on my sleeve.

"Can... can I talk to you for a second?" Rise asked

"Wha-" Yosuke was about to yell, but Souji shut him up with a chop to the head.

"Uh, yeah... sure." I told the other guys to go on without me, and they did so with a good bye.

"So," Rise started, "that dream the other night was real, too."

"...Yeah," I said. "Though, to be honest... I'm not sure how you got there at all."

"What do you mean? Was that place your's, then?"

"Kind of... It's like... a part of me."

"A...part of you?"

I sighed. "I can't really explain it... Something needs to happen before someone can go there."

"Like what?"

I groaned, "I'm really sorry, but I can't explain it..."

She sighed and folded her arms. "And this feeling I'm getting from you? It was only you, and not those other guys. I knew you were just outside earlier."

"That's something I want explained, too."

She blinked. "Oh...sorry."

I smiled, despite what I was feeling. "There's no need to apologise."

She smiled, too, though she was still feeling some doubt. How I knew, I don't know. "...Thanks," she said

I glanced at the clock in the room, and realized it was getting late. "Thanks again for the tofu," I said.

"No problem."

"Um... bye."

"Yeah... bye."

**

* * *

This chapter was...meh. Lots and lots of talking, and no action yet again! You guys must really hate me. :(**

**I told you, though. Some strange stuff happened in this chapter. 'What's this connection between Andrew and Rise', you may be asking yourselves. And I will tell you!**

**...Sometime. Eventually.**

**There's a long weekend for me this weekend, so expect another update soon (hopefully)!**


	10. Striptease

**Dude, this is like, a lot. And I just posted one yesterday. I have **_**a lot**_** of free time.**

**Anyways, here are my replies to you!**

**Unknown:** Thank you!

**Astrih Konnash:** Haha, no problem.

I do my best to write as good as I can, but writing on my own seems to be easier than writing down the game's script. I feel like when I'm just copying, I don't really know what the character's feeling when they're talking. But since I'm creating the lines when I'm writing my own stuff, well...it's just easier.

And yeah, I can't wait for King's Game. Though, if you and the people reading this can't remember, I placed Andrew's birthday around that time... So in honor of that...something may happen. I won't say what though! (Mwahahaha)

**Okay, let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: Andrew Rickets = Mine; Persona 4 = Atlus**

**

* * *

~June 23rd~**

**~12:00AM~**

* * *

It started raining earlier this evening, so Souji called me to make sure I remembered to watch the Midnight Channel. I told him, regarding the situation, I wouldn't be able to _forget_ to watch it.

And so, here I am, in front of the TV, staring at the same pair of breasts from the other night. I have to admit, this girl certainly is... er, bigger... then Rise, just like she had said. Tonight's showing was also different from the last one, since this time I actually got to see Rise's face. She had a big smile on her face and was waving to the camera.

And then she disappeared. My cell rang, once again, and so I answered.

"So that really _was_ Rise on the Midnight Channel!" Kanji yelled on the other end.

"Kanji..." I said, annoyed.

"Oh, right... Sorry." He paused. "So, what're we gonna do?"

"I'm guessing we'll have to keep a close eye on her," I answered.

"Yeah... yeah, right," he said. "So, we'll meet up after school?"

"I think so," I said. "Wait, why are you asking me these things? I'm not the one who makes the decisions..."

"Well, Souji-senpai's line was busy when you appeared on the Midnight Channel back then, so I figured someone was always calling him... And you just seem like the kind of guy who can come up with plans and stuff."

"Do I really seem like that? ...Well, okay then, we'll meet up tomorrow at Marukyu."

"Gotcha."

* * *

Actually, we didn't go straight to the tofu shop. We wound up going to our 'not-so secret headquarters' to discuss what we'll do.

"So about the Midnight Channel last night..." Yosuke began. "That had to be Rise Kujikawa. It even showed her face this time."

"So now we know one more thing," Yukiko said. "The one's that the culprit's targeting are..."

"Broadcasted on TV," Souji finished.

"Exactly!" Yosuke said. "So we can rule out the assumption that all the victims are connected to the incident with Ms. Yamano." We all nodded at him. "As for Rise, I took a peek this morning, and she was still at the shop. So I'm guessing that 'TV Show' thing doesn't appear on the Midnight Channel until after the person enters the TV."

"Teddie said before that it might be victim's own creation upon entering that world," Yukiko explained. "I didn't understand at all at first, but now I feel it may be true. The one that appears on TV is your other self... Maybe the victim's true feelings are shown unconsciously."

"TV show? Victim's own creation?" I was lost. "I wasn't filled in on this."

"Oh, right..." Yosuke rubbed the back of his head. "Um... Once the victim enters the TV world, there's some sort of show that appears on the Midnight Channel. It's been different for each person so far."

"What was mine like?" I asked. "I never actually did get to see it."

"Uh, let's see..." Chie said, "Your Shadow was there, and it was going on about how everyone should go... uh... well, 'you know what' themselves..."

"Oh..." I was silent. "Wow, my Shadow must've been a _dick_."

"Yeah, he was pretty annoying," Yosuke said.

"Anyway, let's get back on track," Chie said. "With all that being said about their other selves on their own 'TV Shows,' they're also shown on the Midnight Channel _before_ they disappear. You know, when it's still really fuzzy and you can't tell who it is." Her brow furrowed. "How do you explain that part?"

"Yeah," Yosuke agreed, "it always happens before the persona disappears, like an advance notice..."

"Or like a ransom note..." I mused. "But... who would they be announcing it too? And why?"

"I don't know, ask the killer," Yosuke shot back. "There's a bunch of stuff I still don't understand."

"You're telling me..." I whispered.

"Is it possible we see those images for the same reason?" Yukiko asked.

"Huh?" Chie replied. "What do you mean?"

"If the Midnight Channel shows the victim's true feelings," Yukiko explained, "maybe it does the same for the culprit. Maybe what we're seeing is the culprit's intentions."

"Well, it's a possibility..." Yosuke said. "The killer can throw people into the TV, after all, which means they must have the same power we do."

"So, when the killer thinks 'I'm gonna attack someone now,' that's what we see on TV?" Chie asked.

"I don't know about that..." Yukiko grumbled.

"But you were the one who suggested it..." I sighed.

"Well, if we're gonna go that far with it," Yosuke said, "we might as well say that's the basis for the entire world. Like, it's some kinda mix of the minds of the victims and the killer... Or maybe it's everyone's minds?"

"That's kind of... far-fetched..." Souji pointed out, and we all sighed at that.

"As always, nothing makes sense," Chie moaned. She looked up at Kanji, who had his head down. "Hey, Kanji-kun, you still with us? You haven't said a word yet."

Kanji's head snapped up lightning quick. He seemed a little dazed. "Whaa...? Uhh... Well, um..."

Chie's eyes narrowed. "You weren't sleeping, were you...?"

Kanji started panicking. "O-of course not!" he said quickly. "I was uh, lost in thought."

"Riiiight, sure you were, pal," I said.

Chie sighed again. "I wish we knew what that world's all about." _Changing the subject much?_ "Teddie's explanations have so many 'maybe's in them that I don't understand the first thing about it. Why would the culprit throw people inside the TV in the first place?"

"Yeah..." I said. "It may have been easier to just try and kill them normally."

"But then there would be evidence pointing to you," Souji said.

"Not... not if they were really careful..."

"The killer has to know by now that people die when they're in there long enough..." Yosuke said. "There's no doubt it's attempted murder. So the TV's a good place to do that, because the police can never prove anything about the crime."

"So... regular murder wouldn't be the wisest thing to do if that's an option, huh?" I asked.

"Most likely not," Yosuke said.

"Murder, huh...?" Kanji decided to speak up. "So the killer's got a grudge against certain people? Well there's a shitload of people who've got my number."

"A grudge?" I asked. "But, wait a second, it was, like, not even a week after I arrived to Inaba, and I was still thrown into the TV..."

"Well, maybe the culprit didn't like how you...helped...Nanako-chan...?" Yukiko offered.

"I... I don't know..." I grabbed my head. "Argh, this is getting nowhere!" I looked back at the others. "Why are we here, anyways? Rise-chan's in danger of being kidnapped! We should be down at the tofu shop, looking for anyone suspicious!"

"Uh," Yosuke said. "Y-you're right, we _should _be watching over Rise."

"But getting information about this stuff is also important, too," Souji said, unfazed by my shouting.

"Okay, but we can do that after know she's safe, can't we?" I asked. "Let's just go there now and make sure she's alright!"

"Quiet _down_, Andrew-kun!" Chie hissed. "We're not the only one's here, you know."

"Huh?" I looked around and caught the stare of other customers. "I, uh... heh heh... oops." I hung my head and whispered, "Let's just go."

* * *

Okay, am I the only one that genuinely cared for Rise's safety? They others are in that little grocery store down the street looking for stakeout food, while I stayed behind and watched over the tofu shop. I was sitting on the steps, just looking around for anything suspicious.

"You're back?" Just as I had expected, Rise appeared at the shop's entrance.

"Yeah, I am," I said to her. "Hey, uh... Did you watch the Midnight Channel last night?"

She shook her head, making her hair flop about. "No, I went to bed early last night."

"Oh... Well, you pretty much were about to pass out yesterday."

"So, why're you back? Don't tell me you ate all the tofu last night..."

"No no, there's still a lot left in my fridge... I'm just here to make sure nothing happens."

"You mean like those kidnappings?"

"Yeah... I want to keep you out of harms way."

"...What?"

"Uh, I mean...! Uh, if I'm able to, then I can catch the guy in the act! Yeah..."

"...Right." She sat down right next to me on the steps. It was silent for a few seconds before Rise broke the ice. "Andrew Ricketts, was it?"

"Yep. That's me."

"It's...kinda hard to pronounce."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I'd imagine. But, it apparently gets easier to say every time you do." I looked up at the sky. Cloudy, just after some rain. "Hey..." I said absent-mindedly, "what's it like being famous?"

Rise looked at me for a second, but then turned her view up to the sky as well. "It's...tough. You have a lot of fans who rush up to you when you step outside, asking for autographs, even when you don't want them to. There are news reporters always looking for the latest scoops, and they think they can do whatever they please..."

"That sounds rough..." I said. "Do you...ever get tired of it?"

"At times, and only a little bit. But even though there's a lot of negative things about it, I still enjoy being an idol."

"I see..."

"What about you?" She looked at me. "How do you like Japan?"

"It's...alright, I guess. There's a lot of things I'm still getting used to, like not touching the floor where your shoes go, and to always add 'senpai' whenever I mention one of their names... And I'm still a little mad that all my other friends have started their summer holidays already."

"Already?" Rise raised an eyebrow.

I nodded, "Back in North America, summer break would start at the end of June, and schools wouldn't open till near the start of September."

"Wow... that's a lot of free time."

"Yeah, it is." I chuckled. "I can never remember anything I learned the previous term, though."

Rise giggled, too. "That's the same with me, after any long holidays." Rise looked past me and sighed a bit. "Aren't those your friends?" I turned around to see the others coming out with bags of groceries in their hands, along with Adachi close behind them.

I stood up and greeted them, as did Rise. "You guys took your time." I said.

"Well, we'll need all the food we can get if we're having a stake-out!" Yosuke announced.

"Yeah, I guess that's true..." I turned to the older man. "Are you helping us find the kidnapper, Adachi-san?"

"That's what you guys are here for?" Adachi asked. "I thought you just wanted to buy some more tofu..."

"We've already got enough at home," Kanji said.

"Right," Adachi waved him off. He turned to Rise, "Ms. Kujikawa, can I speak with you inside?"

"Oh, um... sure." Rise nodded. She said 'bye' to me, and the two of them went in the shop.

"Okay, guys, here's what we'll do," Souji said. He regarded Yosuke, Kanji, and himself. "We'll walk around the shop for a bit, while Yukiko-chan and Chie-chan just idly chat over there, and Andrew will lean against that shop as if he's waiting for someone."

"That's our plan?" I asked.

"Well, we're waiting for the culprit to make his move," Yosuke said. "There's not much we can do now."

I sighed, "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

* * *

And so I stood there, leaning on the building, watching Souji, Yosuke and Kanji pass by me for the twentieth time. Chie and Yukiko had run out of stuff to say and were just saying random stuff, and Adachi was still inside talking to Rise.

Eventually Kanji and Souji stopped for a short break, but Yosuke beckoned them to follow, saying that the culprit would get suspicious if they stopped.

_And walking around the district so many times isn't suspicious, senpai?_

Adachi came out of the tofu shop at that moment with a serious look on his face that didn't suit him. Rise followed him and came over next to me.

"What did he ask you about?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer, but there was a flash of light from above us that cut her off.

"Look!" Yukiko gasped. We all looked up to see some fat guy clinging to the telephone pole next to us. How he got up there, I don't know. There was a camera in his hands, aimed down at Rise and me, and the guy had this creepy smile on his face.

"What in the-" I said. "What the heck are you doing up there?" The guy looked at us, slid down the telephone pole and proceeded to run away.

"Hey, he's running away!" Chie stated. Everyone of us, excluding Rise, chased after the guy.

"Get back here!" Kanji yelled.

"Ah, be careful!" Rise called out to us.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" I said back to her.

We chased the guy to the end of the shopping district, where he was blocked off by the cars driving back and forth. He nearly got hit by a delivery truck coming up the road, but he just kept on running.

"D-don't come near me!" the fat guy shouted.

"Shaddup!" Kanji shouted. "What kind of idiot would listen to-"

"I'll do it, you know!" the guy interrupted. "What're you gonna do if I get run over!"

"What?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"N-no!" Adachi yelled. "If the suspect gets injured, the police will be held responsible... They'll get really angry and..." The guy took that as an opportunity to go back even farther. "...Uh."

"I'll do it, I swear!" he shouted. "S-so get outta here and stop chasing me!"

"Dude, what're we gonna do?" Kanji whispered.

"We should make him turn around, and get him from behind," Souji answered.

"Good idea!" I said.

"Alright, then. On my mark..." Yosuke began.

And then, suddenly, _completely _out of nowhere, I got the biggest migraine in the world.

"Argh!" I grabbed my head. "My... my h-head!" The pain was unbearable. It felt like my brain was about to explode.

"Andrew-kun?" Chie said. "What's wrong?"

"It... My head hurts like hell! Gahh!" I screamed from the pain, wishing, praying it would go away. It was too much to bear, and I had to go down on my knees because of it. The world around me swirled, and I felt just about ready to black out.

And just as quickly as it appeared, the pain went away. I gasped for breath, not realizing I was holding it the whole time. The other guys managed to nab the suspect while I was down, and Adachi wound up taking him away.

"What was that all about?" Kanji asked me.

"I... don't know," I said, still clutching me head. "It just came so suddenly, and the pain was so intense..."

"Well, as long as it's passed over," Yukiko said, "you should be alright."

"I hope..."

"Anyway, let's go back to Rise-chan and tell her that we caught the culprit!" Yosuke said.

"Right, let's-" I stopped dead. "Oh, crap..." You know that weird feeling that I had, telling me where exactly Rise is?

I couldn't feel it. At all.

Which means she isn't here anymore.

"She's...!" I managed to get out, and made a mad dash for the tofu shop. Ignoring my friend's calls, I jumped up the stairs. "Rise-chan!" I called out. No answer. I looked around the kitchen area: beneath the counters, behind the stove, anywhere where a teenaged girl could hide. "She's not here!"

"How do you know that?" Chie asked as the others came up from behind.

"I have...!" I was about to spill the truth, but I didn't want to say it was unless absolutely necessary. "...this feeling."

"C'mon, you worry too much!" Adachi, who just so happened to be right next to the shop, said with a smile. "She must've just stepped out. I mean, we caught the guy." He nodded to us and walked away with the suspect.

"No..." I whispered. "I know for a fact that she's gone." I looked at my friends. "That camera guy isn't the culprit. Rise-chan must've gotten kidnapped while we were chasing him..."

"Okay, just how the hell do you know all of this?" Kanji asked. "When we came to the shop yesterday, you were dead certain that Rise was here, too. And now you're insisting that she's been kidnapped? We just caught the culprit!"

"No, we didn't!" I shouted at him. "That was probably just some ordinary pervert, wanting to sneak a picture of her!"

"How can you be so certain of this?" Souji asked, calm as always. "You never saw her get kidnapped, did you?"

"No, I didn't, but..." I sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna be honest. Though what I'm about to say may make me sound like an even bigger pervert than that other guy..." I mumbled that last bit. "I don't know how to explain it, but... I've got this sort of... 'Rise-radar'...lodged into my head." Silence. So I continued. "Uh... I can sorta tell where she is, whenever I'm close enough... And you're all thinking that's a bunch of baloney, aren't you?"

"Kinda, yeah," Kanji raised his eyebrow.

"Then let's go to the other world, right now," I said. "I'll find Rise-chan to prove it to you!"

Everyone looked at each other, then at me. "It's getting too late to go now," Souji said. "The only thing we can do now is to watch the Midnight Channel."

"Wha...?" I said, surprised. "Well... just let _me_ go! I can get Teddie to watch out for me, and-"

"That bear can't fight," Yosuke said. "You'll only get hurt if you go by yourself."

"But...!" I wanted to go. I wanted to go save her this instant! "Please!" Everyone had hurt expressions on their faces, but not a word was said. I sighed and lowered my head. "...Fine." I turned on my heel and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Yukiko called to me.

"Back to the inn," I said. "I'm waiting for midnight."

**

* * *

~June 24th~**

**~12:00AM~**

* * *

"I knew she was thrown in there..."

The TV showed a very vivid image this time. It showed a purple room with bright yellow lights. Rise's Shadow suddenly walked in from the side, wearing a golden swimsuit.

"Maru-Q! Push Risette!" the Shadow said. "Good evening, good evening! I'm Rise Kujikawa!" It bent over, its hands on its knees, giving me a... er, good view. "This spring, one young girl levels up to become a high school idol... Yayyy!" It stood up straight again. "So today, I'm gonna celebrate by pushing the limits of Standards & Practices! Does everybody know what time it is? Showtime!" Its face turned sly and its eyes narrowed seductively. "Show what, huh?" It giggled, "E-very-thing!"

"Uh..."

The Shadow suddenly ran away from the camera. "Eee, how embarrassing! Is this too hot for TV? Well, if a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing all the way! I'm gonna bare it all for you!" It giggled again, "Stay tuned!" The Midnight Channel turned off at that point.

"That was...uh... interesting..."

I expected Kanji or someone to call me, but no one did. I guess I put up an intimidating show earlier. Nevertheless, I went to bed, but I hardly slept.

**

* * *

~3:45PM~**

"Um, why's there a fox here?"

"Oh, it helps us when we're low on spiritual energy."

"Oh, okay."

* * *

So now, we're inside the TV World. Everyone had a determined look on their faces, and their weapons in their hands.

"So, then, Andrew," Yosuke said, with a hint of disbelief. "Where is Rise-chan?"

I didn't say anything, but concentrated instead. "Not around here," I said. "If she was, I would've felt her presence right away."

"You do realize what you're saying isn't easy to believe."

"Neither is this place, our Personas, or Teddie." He shut up at that. "Let's just walk around a bit, and see if I can sense her."

"Is that really such a good idea?" Chie asked. "I mean, what if we get lost and can't find our way back?"

"Then I'll go alone, and shout for you guys if I can sense her," I answered.

"That's still too dangerous!"

"I don't care."

* * *

So I went halfway to the mansion, and noticed a separate path splitting from the road I was on.

"That wasn't here before, was it?" Souji asked. Yeah, they insisted they follow me.

"You think that's where Rise-chan is?" Yosuke asked.

"Only one way to find out," I answered, and started on the path. It wasn't long after we got on that path that my sixth sense picked up Rise's presence. "I sense her!" I cried. I pointed down the path we were heading on. "We're going the right way!" I dashed off, hoping to get there as quickly as possible.

As I kept running, the surrounding area started to dim until I could hardly see five feet in front of me.

"What is this place?" Chie asked, right behind me. The others appeared shortly after. "It's all dark..."

And then, _bam_, the lights came on, showing us a room filled with seats, tables, hearts and neon lights. When we got into a building, I had no idea. There was a staircase right in front of us with an entryway on it, leading into a still-dark area. Fog was pouring out of it.

"Whoa..." Chie gasped. "Is this a...?"

Yosuke turned to us, a big smile on his face. "Oh, like the kind you always find in resort towns!"

"Ah, I think you're right," Yukiko said. "Oh, b-but we don't have one...! Our inn is not like that...!"

Kanji looked around some more. "Huh... So this is a strip joint, eh?"

"That'll explain why Rise-chan's Shadow was dressed... uh, like that..." I said quietly.

"Strip?" Teddie said, his eyes rather wide. "Aha, I know what that is! It's the things zebras have, right!"

No reply from anyone, only a groan from Chie. Teddie tried the joke again, but still no one laughed, not even Yukiko.

Speaking of Yukiko... "It's so bright here... Even with the glasses on, my eyes hurt..."

"Doesn't anyone get the joke?" Teddie yelled. "Okay, let's try one more time..."

"I'm going in," I said, and leapt up the stairs.

"What? No, wait!" Yosuke yelled, but I was already long gone.

* * *

The first thing I heard when I entered the new area was the loud thumping of this place's music. I never knew these places could have music going through them, but at least there was a chance that there could be some awesome battle tunes.

I continued forward on the path, looking for any Shadows to take out. I found a crawling, sludge like one, and so I hit it with my cleaver. It split into two giant DNA things, wobbling around and trying to keep balance.

"Let's do this!" I summoned Wyvern to use that fire move, known as Agilao, on the closest enemy, but nothing happened. Not even a burn. "What the-! Fire doesn't work?" It suddenly jumped up and down, and a bright column of orange engulfed both DNA-things. Then the second one jumped up similarly, but instead of a column, a dark, purple sphere circled around me. When it vanished, I felt weaker, and it seemed that the very air stung me a little.

Not wavering in my step, I summoned Wyvern again, this time sending him to smash into the closest one using what he called Cleave, fittingly enough. It didn't die, however, and lunged at me with a lot of speed. It hit me square in the chest, and I was sent flying a nice few feet back. "Whaaaa!"

I landed on the floor with a thud, and my body hurt like crazy. _How the heck is it so strong! I won't win like this...!_ The second one, too, began to charge at me, and I could only brace myself and wait for the worst.

"_Take-Mikazuchi!_"

Suddenly, lightning strikes from nowhere descended on the DNA creatures, and both were knocked down.

Kanji appeared at my side and offered me a hand. "Here!" I took his hand and he helped me up. He, Chie and Souji circled around the two knocked downed enemies.

"This is our chance!" Chie cried. Souji smirked and nodded, and, with their own battle cries, they charged at the Shadows. Their continuous swinging of their weapons must've picked up the fog around us, because before I knew it I was staring at a partially large cloud, surrounding the others. When it cleared, only one Shadow remained, but the other one was still alive.

"I got this one!" I yelled, and charged at the thing. I gave a shout as I leapt as high as I could (which wasn't that high), and brought my cleaver down on the thing's head. It split right down the middle, slicing it nearly perfectly, until it exploded into a purple smog.

I landed on my feet, and sighed in relief. The others came up to me, Souji with a serious look on his face. "Don't run off like that again," he said. "It's too dangerous to go off by yourself."

"What were you thinking!" Chie yelled. "Do you want to get yourself killed!"

I grumbled. "What I _want,_ senpai," I said, not bothering to hide my anger, "is to _find_ and _rescue_ Rise-chan. And I'll do that by any means necessary."

"That doesn't mean you rush have to rush into battle," Souji said. "You're not the only one trying to rescue her. Remember that."

"Then let's get moving." I walked right past them, and continued on the path.

* * *

The farther up we went, the more we heard Rise's Shadow's voice from everywhere. It was beckoning to us, taunting us to try and find it. We even ran into it once, but it ran off before we could say anything. About five floors later, Kanji and I got swapped out for Yukiko and Yosuke, so we stayed back with Teddie and made sure he never got hit.

"So, how much more longer till we find Rise?" Kanji asked me.

"I don't know what floor she's on," I said, "but I can tell that we're getting closer to her."

"So, uh..." He scratched his head. "You actually _do_ have some sort of radar-thing, telling you where she is, then?"

I sighed. "I don't know how else to describe it. It's like this...feeling in my head, pointing me to wherever she is."

"And can she feel you back?"

"I'm pretty sure. She turned around instantly when we walked in the tofu shop the other day, when it could've been someone completely different."

"Yeah, 's true..." Kanji agreed. There was some more silence, until he asked, "So you two really did know each other before we met her?"

"Ah, yeah..." I said. "Um... Has your Persona ever summoned you to this, like, bright, foggy place so he can talk to you...?"

Kanji thought for a moment. "Yeah, he did...!" He must've forgotten about it.

"Well, when Wyvern and I were talking there once, Rise-chan just...suddenly appeared, lying on the ground."

"Seriously?" Kanji asked. "Take-Mikazuchi told me that only the Personas can allow things to appear in that place..."

"Wyvern told me the same thing, except he went on and said that if something is strongly connected to me, it can pop up anyways, even without him letting whatever it is in."

"And you and Rise spoke there, and she remembered it."

"Right."

Yosuke suddenly got hit and landed right next to us, but neither us nor Teddie paid him any attention.

* * *

We finally got to the top floor, where a giant curtain awaited us.

"She's right behind here," I said. "Let's do this!"

Everyone nodded. I pushed back the curtains and we all ran in. The room was circular, with a single platform in the middle. On that platform was a stripper pole that only went halfway to the ceiling. Both Rises were right next to it, the real one crouched down in front of her Shadow.

"Rise-chan!" I yelled.

We ran forward to the platform, and the Shadow looked at us with its bright, yellow eyes. It laughed maniacally, "They're all watching! All eyes are on me now!"

"Stop it!" the real Rise yelled.

The Shadow looked down at her, "Awwww! What's the matter? You wanna show your stuff, don'tcha? How's_ this_?" And then it swung around on that pole and started dancing. It was...mildly entertaining.

"Please... stop this..."

It stopped dancing and giggled, but I could tell it wasn't happy. "Oooh, she wants me to stop. That's so funny!" Its eyes narrowed and it scowled. "As if that's even close to what you're really thinking, you little skank! You're me! And obviously, I'm you!"

"No... that's not true..."

"Ahahahaha! C'mon, look! You can't tear your eyes away!" I heard Yosuke mutter 'You got that right,' but I didn't call him out on it. "This is me!" the Shadow yelled. "This is who I really am! Not Risette, the fake celebrity! Look at the girl right in front of you! I'm sick of being some airhead cliché who chokes down everything she's fed and takes it all with a smile! 'Risette'? Who the hell is she? There's no such person in this world! I'm no one but myself! C'mon, look at me!"

"That's not-" Rise said. "You're...!"

Remembering my own Shadow, I realized that saying 'You're not me' causes the person's Shadow to go berserk, so I tried to prevent it. "No!" I yelled, "Don't say it!"

Both Rises looked back at us, specifically me. "Oh ho ho!" the Shadow cried. "What do we have here?" It left the pole and walked right up to me. "Well, if it isn't the boy from the other day!"

Wow. To see her in a bikini this close up is...wow.

It chuckled. "Aren't you mesmerised by me? I'm betting you want to see more of me, don't you...?"

"Wha- Uh..."

"You know..." it smiled sinisterly, "ever since that dream..." It leaned in closer and whispered, "I've been thinking about you all the time."

"Wha-"

"My mind just can't leave you!" It stood up again. "No matter what I think about, you always pop up!" It looked back at the real Rise with a demonic smile. "I might even say I'm in _love_ with you!"

"WHAT!" Yosuke was taken aback, apparently. I didn't know what to think.

"No, no, NO!" Rise stood up and yelled at her Shadow. "That's not true!"

"It is!" The Shadow giggled, "It's true that you can't stop thinking about him, isn't it?"

"That's only because of that weird feeling I get! I'm not in love with him!"

"Tsk tsk tsk..." The Shadow waved its finger back and forth. "You shouldn't go against your true feelings like that, you know."

"Just stop talking!" Rise yelled, covering her ears. "You're not me!"

Oh shit.

The Shadow cackled, and said "Here it comes! Now I'm finally myself!" Dark fog was spreading to it, and it was eventually completely covered. When the fog dispersed, a giant, multi-colored figure appeared. It had Rise's wavy red hair and hazel eyes, but there was strangely nothing else to the face. It circled around to the pole, which somehow grew in size, and hung off of it by one leg.

Rise, the real one, collapsed, similar to how I did back then. "Rise-chan!" I yelled, and hopped on the platform. I picked her up and quickly brought her back to the group, setting her down beside Teddie. "Keep her safe," I instructed.

"Right!" the bear said, determination in his eyes.

"Yukiko, Chie, Andrew!" Souji yelled. "Let's go!"

"Right!" The three of us yelled, and we all circled the giant.

The Shadow rubbed its hands over its rainbow-like body. "I am a Shadow... The true self," it said. "And now, the moment you've been waiting for! It's time for me to show you every last inch of myself!" It looked down at me and my senpai. "And for our guests in the front row... I'll give you extra-special, extra-intense service!"

"So... I was like that, too?" I asked. "Aw, geez..."

"Don't get distracted!" Chie yelled. "We have to take it out!"

"Ohh?" the Shadow chirped. "You're going to rush the stage? What ill-mannered guests... Maybe you're looking for an experience that's a little _more_ intense!"

Souji was the first to strike. He brought his hand up and crushed the card that came floating down. "Tch!" he grunted, and a unicorn (?) appeared in front of him. It whinnied, and a bolt of lightning struck the Shadow. Chie and I rushed it, kicking and swinging our weapons. Chie managed to hit it in its head, but it slapped me away before I could deal any damage. I landed with a skid, but quickly righted myself.

"Konohana-Sakuya!" Yukiko's Persona appeared over head and blasted it with Agilao. The Shadow came off of the pole and rubbed a hand over its body, making squishy and weird noises. It squealed, and Souji got blasted with a Bufula spell.

I went to strike again, this time summoning Wyvern to use its newest move, Fatal End. He smashed into the Shadow, causing it to shriek in pain. Chie summoned Tomoe to slash at it with her naginata, and Souji rushed up to slice it across the chest with his sword.

"Die!" the Shadow yelled, and suddenly a wave of energy came from the pole's bottom. It blew over me and it hurt like hell, but I still stood.

"Everyone, rush it!" Souji yelled. We nodded and charged the thing, putting everything we had into our attacks. I slashed at one of its arms, while the others hit other parts of its body.

Rise's Shadow swept its hands at us, hitting Souji and Chie but missing Yukiko and me. It then started laughing. "Enjoying yourselves?" it asked. "I've got a ways to go until I show my true self... You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Oh, joy.

The Shadow cast an area wide Garu attack, hurting us all but sending Souji the farthest back. With our leader down for the moment, the Shadow cast a spell that hit Chie. Nothing seemed to happen, so she just ignored it. Souji managed to get up and crushed another card, this time summoning a snake with a human head and a pair of wings. An icicle burst out from underneath the Shadow, and as it got hit I jumped up to it and slashed my cleaver at it. I landed a hit, but once again, it pushed me away. This time, however, I managed to land on my feet and regain my composure.

I glanced at Yukiko, who mouthed the word 'fire' to me. I nodded, understanding what she meant, and we both summoned our Personas. They used their fire skills, and a very large burst of flame erupted at Rise's Shadow. Tomoe and the snake-woman, who, according to Souji's shout, was named Ganga, appeared and sent their own blasts of ice at the Shadow.

It was getting mad, and sent another wave of painful energy at us. It was too much for me to bear, and I got sent back a ways. Souji caught eye of this and had Ganga use a rather good healing spell. I got right back up and had Wyvern use another new move, one that caused the Shadow to move much slower than normal. Sukunda, I think it was called.

Anyway, we were able to get a lot more hits in, while the Shadow wasn't quick enough to hit us with its own attacks. It started to hang less gracefully from the pole, and eventually it had enough. "What...?" it said. "I dealt all that exquisite pain and you're still not satisfied? What finicky guests..." Its eyes narrowed at us. "You all might as well die, then!"

And then it started humping the pole.

But the worst part was, that wasn't all. It swung one of its arms out, aiming it right at me, and then a ball of light appeared in front of its hand.

"What's it doing?" Chie yelled.

"It's charging up!" Teddie replied. "Everyone brace yourselves!" We did as suggested, but it appeared futile. When the Shadow finished charging, it let out this _huge_ laser beam that hit us all. It was sorta like a Master Spark, except it wasn't made from the power of love.

Oh, and it hurt like _crazy_. I couldn't hear my own screams because it was loud, too. When the beam stopped, I slumped to one knee. The others did so too, even the non-fighters. Hell, Yosuke was flat on his back, the poor guy. Somehow, though, and miraculously, Rise remained unharmed.

"Owwww ow ow ow..." I moaned. "I hurt everywhere..."

"What's the... deal with that...?" Kanji winced. "It even hit us..."

"Ohhh..." Teddie whined. "I can't do anything to help...!"

"Only one shot, and you're already down...?" the Shadow said. "You're not as strong as I thought..." It chuckled and aimed at us again. "Here it comes agaaaain~! Try and dodge it!"

"Shit!" Kanji cursed.

"Are we... going to die?" Yukiko asked. Souji growled, unsure of what to do.

"No...!" I said. "This can't end here!"

By now, the giant ball of energy was nearly ready. "I hope you're prepared!" the Shadow said with a squeal. Teddie started mumbling to himself, but I was too wrought with fear to hear him good. "Goodbye... forever!" The Shadow was just about to fire when Teddie jumped in front of us.

"Wha...?" I said. "Ted, what are you doing!"

"M-my body's moving on its own...! Why am I stepping forward...? I... I feel like... I'm going bear-serk!"

_Dude, there's a time and place for jokes, but now's neither!_

"Grrr... I-I'll do it! Take a good look...!" he said. "At Teddie's last stand!" He was covered in a bright yellow fire, as if he were going into a super mode. Rise's Shadow ignored him and fired her laser at us again, but then a barrier somehow materialized in front of Teddie and reflected the beam right back at the Shadow!

"AAAHHHH!" the Shadow screeched, and was enveloped in a dark fog. When it did, we all found our strength return to us and managed to stand up.

"What in the-!" Kanji yelled. "Teddie, did you just do that!"

The bear in question didn't respond. He must've been too shocked from what just happened to respond. "I... I didn't know I could do that...!" The fog disappeared, and Rise's Shadow returned to its human-like form.

"You idiot!" Chie screamed at the bear. She was on the verge of tears. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"But... but I helped, didn't I?" the bear asked.

"You didn't just help, you saved our lives!" Yosuke said.

"I... I did!" Teddie was amazed at himself. "I'm so glad...! I didn't want to be alone anymore..."

"Nng..." I heard a soft moan behind me. I looked back and remembered that Rise-chan was still there. She got up, but nearly fell again. Luckily I was there to grab her and keep her up.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, keeping her steady.

"Mmm...?" she groaned. "Where...am I...?" She looked up at me and blinked. "I'm sorry... It's all my fault..."

"Don't be silly," I said. "None of it's your fault."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "It's still something 'I' did..." She looked over to her defeated self, and, with my help, walked over there. She let me help her up at the platform, but went on from there on her own. "Here, stand up." She said to her Shadow, which immediately did. "I'm sorry... You must've been in a lot of pain up to now. You're part of me, but I kept refusing to admit you existed... I was trying to figure out who the real me was. But I realize now that I was on the wrong track. There is no 'real' me. It just doesn't exist."

"There's no... real me...?" Teddie repeated, but none of us paid attention to him.

"You, me, even Risette..." Rise continued. "They were all born from me. All of them _are_ me."

Her Shadow smiled gently and nodded to her, and was blanketed in a bright light. The swimsuit wearing Rise disappeared, and in its place stood a Persona. It was wasn't that similar to the one we just fought, because this one was actually wearing clothes. It had a white, frilly dress that went down to its legs, and in its hands was a long rapier. It had a crown on its head and had red hair tied into two drill-like twin tails. The Persona also had Rise's eyes.

"Himiko..." Rise whispered. When the Persona disappeared, she turned to us and smiled, but quickly fell to the floor.

"Ah...!" Yosuke gasped. "Rise-chan, careful!"

She looked at him. "Don't worry, I'm fine." We all hopped on the platform and surrounded her. "Hey..." She said to me, "I was wondering how long it'd take you to get up here."

"You knew we were coming?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah... Oh, um...!," she said, but she quickly said nothing more.

"It's alright," I said. "They already know."

"Oh... You do?" She looked at the others.

"He told us about that 'radar-thing' he has, but we didn't exactly believe him." Yosuke admitted.

"Please... don't call it that anymore," I pleaded. "It's just like... a sixth sense or something..."

"Oh, that's right..." Rise said, and looked over the others. "I don't even know your names." She looked at me. "Well, besides yours..." I chuckled, and everyone else briefly introduced themselves. "So... what exactly happened...?"

"We'll explain everything later," Chie said, "but for now, we need to-" She turned around and stopped mid-sentence. We all turned, too, to see Teddie just standing there.

"There's... no real me...?" Teddie said, his eyes unfocused.

"H-hey, Teddie..." Kanji said, trying to get his attention.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"Get back," Souji said. "Something seems wrong."

"Real? Me?" a sinister voice from somewhere said. It chuckled and said, "Such foolishness..." Suddenly _another_ Teddie popped out of the other one, this one being taller with hollow, empty yellow eyes.

"W-what is that thing?" Yosuke yelled.

"D-don't tell me..." Chie said. "Is that the other Teddie? His hidden thoughts?"

Oh. _Shit_.

**

* * *

Whoa. So many things are different. All for good reasons, though.**

**Who was expecting Rise to just play Mission Control again? Not I. Teddie will still fill that role.**

**So, what're your thoughts! Was it good, or very good? I'd like to know what you think, please, and some criticism wouldn't hurt.**

**Also, that bit the Shadow Rise said about being in love with Andrew is not true. Sure, she's thinking about him, but that's because of that sixth sense of hers. I read somewhere once that Shadows tend to exaggerate things, so Rise's was only doing that. I just wanted to clear that up so that no one thinks I'm rushing this.**

'**Kay, thanks, bye.**


	11. Round Two

**Okay, in case you didn't know, I was looking over the first ten chapters of the story, and there were **_**a lot**_** of mistakes in terms of spelling and such. So I spent a lot of time working on fixing them up. But then, whenever I saved a document, all of the sentences that ended in both an exclamation mark and a question mark (i.e. ! ? when put together) would result in only the first mark appearing, no matter how many times I saved it. That was quite annoying, and I didn't realize it until I finished up Chapter 10... (-.-;)**

**So, yeah. The other chapters are somewhat better, but hardly nothing regarding the story is changed (though Shadow Andrew has wings now. Read the bottom Author's Note in Chapter 5 for more info if you want). There was some things I deleted or added, but they were either unimportant or insignificant.**

**Now, I'll stop with the big words and get on with it.**

**Astrih Konnash:** Ha ha, I was hoping someone would catch that XD. And I hope the King's Game scene will be great, too. Can't remember if I said this yet (too lazy to check), but something important will happen there, so be expecting it! Oh, and there will also be a... surprise. Won't say what, though.

Also, you're like, the only person who reviews this story now :/

**Disclaimer: Andrew Ricketts is mine. And I own Andrew Ricketts. Not Persona 4, which belongs to Atlus.**

**

* * *

~June 24th~**

**~Unknown Time~**

* * *

The six of us stared down at both Teddies, shocked beyond belief that the bear had a Shadow himself. "Wh-what's wrong?" Teddie asked, not knowing what was going on. "Why do you all look so surprised?" He finally decided to turn around and look upon his giant self. "Whoa!" he yelled, jumping back a bit in terror.

"The truth is unattainable," the Shadow began in a monotone voice. "It'll always be shrouded in fog. Though you reach through the murk and the gloom to grasp something, you have no means to know it is the truth... In which case, why...? What sense is there in yearning for the truth? Close your eyes. Lie to yourself. Live in blissful ignorance... It is a much smarter way to exist."

"Wh-what're you talking about?" Teddie yelled at his counterpart. "I don't understand a word you're saying! You're just making it sound difficult because I'm not that smart!" I could've said something at this, but I chose to keep quiet. "How rude!" the bear continued. "Maybe you can't tell, but I'm thinking as hard as I can!"

"It is those efforts that I am calling useless... You are hollow. Empty." Teddie gasped, but the Shadow kept on. "At your core, you know this... You just cannot accept it. So you seek an alternate form... a denial of your nature. You have no lost memories. If you have forgotten anything, it is this truth."

Teddie clutched his head and started swaggering a bit. "Th-that's... a lie..." He took a few steps away from the Shadow.

"Shall I spell it out for you?" the Shadow asked, its eyes narrowing. "You are but a mere-"

"I said shaddup!" Teddie suddenly shouted, interrupting his Shadow. He tried tackling it, but the thing was like a rock; it didn't move at all, and the recoil caused Teddie to fly back into the platform with a slam.

"Teddie!" Yukiko called out. He must've been knocked unconscious, because the poor guy didn't respond at all.

"It is the same for you all..." Teddie's Shadow said to us, looking up. "You undergo suffering because of your search for the truth... This world is filled with thick, heavy fog... How can you find something when you know not what you search for?"

"The truth has to exist," Souji answered. "We may not be able to find it at times, but it's always there!"

"We just have to search even harder than before!" Chie added.

Teddie's Shadow continued to stare at us before speaking again. "Then allow me to grant you one truth that you will not have to search for... You will all die here." Everyone tensed up, even Rise. "You sought the truth, only to find death..."

For a moment, nothing happened. But then suddenly fog started pouring _from_ the bear's Shadow.

"Dammit..." Yosuke said. "How are we supposed to fight something like this without Teddie...?"

"Teddie was only remembering Shadow's weaknesses and stuff before, wasn't he?" I asked. "If someone's willing to do that just this once, we should be good."

"I'll do it," Rise said immediately. "It'll be my way of thanks for you guys saving me."

"Alright, thank you," Souji said. He then turned to Chie, Yukiko and I. "Are you guys ready?"

"Um, I think I'll sit this one out..." Chie said. "I'm not in very good shape..."

"Me, too... I'm all out of energy," Yukiko said.

"Really?" I asked, looking at them. "I'm good enough to fight."

"Okay then, take Teddie and keep him and Rise-chan safe," Souji instructed the girls. "Yosuke, Kanji, you're with us."

"Gottcha," Kanji said, readying his weapon.

Suddenly, all the fog floating around Teddie's Shadow suddenly flew away from it in a giant burst. It completely covered us and we all had to cover our eyes and hold our breath. When it cleared, we found ourselves in a different room.

"What the-!" Yosuke yelled. It was similar to the circular room we were just in, except the central platform was missing, as well as the pole. In its place was a huge hole, and clinging to the edge of it was Teddie's Shadow, which somehow grew at least twenty feet in that short amount of time. Its mask was also cracked at its left eye, showing us... well, _nothing_ behind the it's now blue eyes.

"Guy's, get ready!" Rise called out. She, Chie and Yukiko ran farther back, with the latter two dragging the knocked out Teddie with them. We four guys formed a semi-circle around the giant bear, each of us with our weapons ready.

"I am a Shadow... The true self..." the thing said. "I shall give you the 'truth' you claim to hold so dear... The inescapable fact of your death here!"

"Is that what Teddie really looks like on the inside...?" Kanji asked, ignoring the creature's shouting.

"Yeah..." Souji answered. "There's literally nothing in him."

"Foolish beings!" the Shadow yelled. "Accept your end with dignity and grace!"

Souji was the first to strike once again. He started running to the Shadow, and just as it was about to claw at him, our leader leapt _high_ in the sky. As it was distracted with Souji, Kanji and I also charged at the Shadow. The three of us swung our weapons at the monster and dealt damage, but it still managed to swat Souji away.

"Let's do this, Jiraiya!" Yosuke yelled as he summoned his Persona, a giant frog wearing a disco outfit. He put its hands together in a sort of ninja-like hand-sign, and a big burst of wind erupted from underneath Shadow Teddie. I, too, summoned my Persona, and had him use Fatal End on the Shadow.

It only grunted, and used Bufula on me, but I was lucky enough to jump away from the icicle before it poked up from the ground. I saw Souji and Kanji summon their Personas, Souji's this time being Unicorn again, and cast an unnatural amount of electricity at the bear. This time it roared in pain, and slumped to the floor in agony.

"It's down! We can go for it now!" I yelled. Souji nodded once again at this remark, and we all charged with our own distinctive cries of battle. We slashed and attacked the bear, and yet it hardly did anything to block us. Just like I figured earlier, our weapons were picking up the fog around the area and throwing it around, because before I knew it I was completely covered in the stuff. My arms seemed to quickly give out though, and so I hopped out of the cloud. Kanji was already out, and Souji and Yosuke followed right after me. When the cloud dispersed, Teddie's Shadow was still holding onto the floor, as if we did nothing to it.

It roared again, and raised one arm up. Dark spheres enveloped us all, and I felt somewhat weaker.

"What'd it do?" I yelled.

"It used Marakunda!" Yosuke answered. "We'll get hurt more if it hits us!"

"Well, I won't let that happen!" I summoned Wyvern once again and used Sukunda on the Shadow, causing it to decrease in agility.

"Alright, Andrew!" Kanji praised as he summoned Take-Mikazuchi to have him slam his lightning-bolt weapon on the bear. Yosuke and I both ran up to it and struck with everything we had left, which wasn't much considering we just went all-out on the thing. The two of us jumped away when the bear went for a strike, and it thankfully missed.

"Try another Zionga!" I yelled to Souji and Kanji. They nodded and shot more electricity at it, which caused the bear to slump to the floor again.

"We can win this if we keep using that!" Yosuke realized. We were all about to charge it again when it suddenly got right back up, making us stop in our tracks. It cast a spell over itself which made a blue shield appear in front of it. It looked to be full of electricity, but it quickly disappeared again.

"Lightning's not going to work now!" Rise called out to us.

"Crap...!" I said quietly, and summoned Wyvern once again to use Cleave. The attack hit its target perfectly, but it didn't do as much damage as I would've liked. Kanji summoned Take-Mikazuchi again and used a spell that caused a pillar of purple light to shoot up beneath Souji. My senpai thanked him, and charged at the bear to get more hits on. As he was, Yosuke had Jiraiya make another column jut from under him, this one being green. This immediately gave Souji a boost in speed, which he used to his advantage by stabbing his sword into the bear's side and running around it while dragging the blade through the it.

I then felt the Marakunda lift from my body, and I figured my Sukunda on the Shadow didn't have a lot of time left. "Let's go, Wyvern!" I smashed my cleaver into my card, and my Persona blasted fire at the bear. That caused it to retaliate by sending a wave of red hot energy at us, similar to what Rise's Shadow done to us before. My senpai and Kanji jumped over the wave, but I got the bad end of it and was knocked to the floor. "Dammit!" I looked to the side to see Yosuke staring at me with concern. "Don't worry about me, go fight!"

"No way!" He summoned Jiraiya and cast another spell. I was surrounded by a bright sphere of colorful light and felt my strength returning to me. "C'mon, get up!" Yosuke yelled.

"A-ah, thanks!" I called out to him, and returned to the front lines. The Shadow cast a Bufula at Kanji, but he wasn't able to dodge in time. Souji then crushed the card in his hands and summoned a skeleton with a red cape and a sword in its hands. It did three swift strikes at the monster, and each one of them connected. As the Shadow groaned and focused on the others, I tried to approach it from the rear. I slashed my card and had Wyvern use a move called Rampage, which hit the bear's back twice.

I couldn't see it well from this angle, but Shadow Teddie raised its arm again, causing a different kind of sphere to encircle me. This one didn't seem to do much, since I didn't feel any weaker than before. It then quickly spun around while I was distracted and faced me. I wasn't quick enough to dodge its arm, and it wound up grabbing and slamming me into the ground. I screamed from the pain, and when I opened my mouth, blood flew out of it. I also heard a crack in my arm, and it did _not_ feel pleasant.

"_Andrew!_" I heard Rise call from the other side of the room. I tried to set myself free from the Shadow's grip, but nothing I did worked.

"Stop this futile struggling," Shadow Teddie's voice boomed throughout the room. "Even if you resist, it will all come to naught..."

Its claws tightened around me, and I screamed as it threw me up in the air. I caught a glimpse at its other arm high above its head, about to crush me into the floor. I was too scared to yell, but I still braced myself for the inevitable.

...Which oddly didn't come. I also stopped falling somehow. When I opened my eyes and looked, I saw that Yosuke's Persona Jiraiya caught me, and that Take-Mikazuchi and a new Persona, most likely one of Souji's, was keeping the Shadow's arm up.

"J... Jiraiya?" I asked, looking up to the tall frog. He nodded at me, set me down and disappeared. I did my best to ignored the pain in my arm and ran back to the others. When I reached them, Souji and Kanji dismissed their Personas, making the bear's arm slam into the spot where I would've been. Yosuke also used another Diarama on me, and my supposed broken arm quickly mended itself.

"We're not done yet..." Souji panted. Both he and Kanji looked exhausted, most likely from straining to keep the monster's arm up.

"Right..." I said. I glanced back to the girls to make sure they were still safe. Rise nodded to me, and I turned back to the Shadow. It looked down at us with those large eyes, and suddenly ducked into that hole it was in.

"Huh...?" Yosuke said. "Is it...gone?"

"Don't count on it," Souji said. The bear suddenly popped up from the hole again, this time with a giant sphere in its hands. It seemed to be spinning faster with every passing second.

"Now what's happening?" Kanji shouted.

"It looks like it's charging up for an attack!" Rise called out. "Guys, be super careful!"

"It might take a while to finish charging," Souji said, "so let's try to get as many attacks in as we can." He summoned yet another Persona, this one a woman in yellow and green, holding some sort of guitar-like instrument. She strummed a few cords and cast an area wide Dia. I felt a bit more strength return to me, even though Yosuke just used a stronger one on me. "Let's go!"

We wasted no more time, and the four of us charged at the Shadow. It did nothing to block our attacks; it just kept focusing on the ball of energy. After a few more swings, the sphere seemed like it was a lot bigger than it was before.

"I think it's going to strike!" I heard Rise yell. "Everyone defend yourselves!"

We all jumped back and shielded ourselves as best we could. The Shadow reared its arm back and swiped it across us. Despite only having a knife taking the attack for me, I barely felt a thing.

"Ha!" I yelled. "That was nothing!" I raised my cleaver over my head, ready to smash at my Persona's card, but it didn't come. "...Huh?" I kept urging it to appear, but nothing showed up. "What the-! Why can't I summon my Persona?"

"Teddie's Shadow used a spell to seal our Personas earlier!" Souji answered. "It must've affected you! Stay back and only attack when there's an opening!"

"Ah, a-alright!" I dodged another Bufula the bear sent at me and quickly made my way back to the girls. "Everyone okay back here?" I asked upon arrival.

"I'm okay," Rise answered. She looked back to our senpai and said, "But these guys aren't in good shape."

She was right: Chie was bent over, panting heavily, while Yukiko had to sit down to try to regain her energy. Teddie was still out cold, though that was expected.

"You're not getting tired, are you?" I asked Rise.

"Just a little. What about you though?"

"I'm fine. I'm-" Just then I felt my Persona's seal life. "Uh... going back into battle, apparently." And I dashed off again.

"B-Be careful!" she called back to me.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" I raised my cleaver above me as I ran to the Shadow. I sliced the card open and Wyvern appeared, folding its wings and charging straight at it while I slashed it at the same time. As it staggered back I saw Kanji's Persona slam its weapon into the bear again, and then Yosuke's caused another burst of wind to burst out underneath it. Souji's Persona from before, the one that kept the monster's arm in place, appeared and used its two swords to slice at it.

The bear was now lying on the room's floor, most likely from exhaustion, though it kept trying to rise up again. "What...?" it spoke. "How can you summon such strength for such a futile endeavour...?"

"Because we _don't want to die!_" Kanji yelled, and smashed his card with the desk. Take-Mikazuchi shot another Zionga at the bear, and this caused it to stay on floor. "Alright, let's go!" We all shouted in agreement, and charged at the Shadow. Another cloud of fog surrounded us, but we ignored it and kept on striking. The cloud eventually disappeared, and we all jumped back to avoid a sudden swing from the beast.

It then sent out another wave of energy, something we all managed to jump over. It immediately used the Zio-nullifying spell on itself again, and Souji summoned his dual-sword wielding Persona, which was named Rakshasa, and a bright pillar of light shot up from beneath him. "Everyone strike!" He yelled, and we all got our Personas to do their strongest physical attacks on the Shadow. It did some massive damage on it since it shouted pretty loudly. Sadly, though, it still didn't give in, and it used its Marakunda on us again "Andrew, use Sukunda! Yosuke, Sukukaja on everyone!"

"I'm on it!" I summoned Wyvern while Yosuke summoned Jiraiya. As Shadow Teddie slowed down, the four of us sped up.

The experience was... amazing. I looked over to Souji, who nodded at me. I nodded back, and the both of us raced around the giant bear, jumped onto its back and dug our weapons into it. It cried out, and it tried to reach behind itself and grab us. As it was trying this, Kanji and Yosuke kept unleashing everything they had on the monster. It finally gave up on trying grab Souji and me, and instead started to spin around _very_ quickly. I was thrown off, and I skidded across the floor with a yelp. I saw that Souji landed perfectly on his feet, and then dashed for the colossus giant again.

I quickly grabbed my cleaver next to me and had Wyvern use Fatal End. The Shadow roared in pain, and I thought it was dead, but it proved yet again to be a persistent pain in the ass. It looked over to me and caused another Bufula to form beneath me. It popped up too quick for me to dodge, and I was shot up into the air. It hit me at an angle which caused me to do a few back flips, too, so when I hit the ground I wound up landing on my neck.

"You alright man?" Kanji asked me from not far away.

"Just... peachy!" I answered, rubbing my now sore neck. I got up again and had Wyvern unleash another powerful burst of fire. The Shadow was now completely slumped over, and we could both hear it panting and see it rising up and down.

"Why do you still resist...?" it shouted. "Even should you win, naught but suffering awaits!"

"You got it all wrong!" Yosuke yelled, and had Jiraiya punch it square in the eye. "We'll find the truth, no matter what it takes!" Kanji then ran up to it and smacked it around with the desk. How that hasn't broke yet, I don't even know. I summoned Wyvern again and had him use Fatal End, and Souji summoned this giant flaming bird to use Garula on it. The monster growled and clenched its fist. It slammed it into the ground and another shockwave flew at us. Kanji and I dodged it, but Souji and Yosuke got hit, and the latter flew really far back.

"Senpai!" I yelled, but I chose to charge at the monster and swing my cleaver into its side. I kept slashing and hitting it until it pushed me away again, this time making me land right next to the girls. "Hey," I said casually.

"H-How're you holding up?" Rise asked, half-scared to death.

"Not bad," I said. "Wish it'd just die soon, though..." I picked myself up and charged at the behemoth again. Before I got there, though, it dipped back into the hole and came out with another large energy ball.

"Shit!" Kanji yelled.

"Everyone, attack, quickly!" Souji ordered, and we all summoned our Personas and used our strongest moves on it. I sent another Agilao at it, Yosuke used Garula, Kanji had his Persona use Zionga (which thankfully worked), and Souji, taking note of this, summoned an angel with a spear and shield to cast its own Zionga at the Shadow.

That was enough for the bear to actually stop charging his sphere of doom, which disappeared right from its hand. It fell to the floor with a thud and showed no signs of getting back up.

"It's not vanishing!" Yosuke shouted. "Souji, let's all attack it!"

"Alright, _go!_" Souji replied, and the four of us ran as fast as we could at the monster. Another cloud formed around us as we attacked, but I didn't care at the moment. We kept on striking it with our weapons, and it hardly put up a fight against us. My arms once again gave out, so I had to hop away from the thing. Yosuke and Kanji jumped out from the now fading cloud after me, but Souji stayed in. He did two quick slashes left and right, and then went for an uppercut slice. It seemed that the Shadow _finally_ had enough, since it gave a loud roar and was covered in fog.

Said fog quickly filled the room again, and I had to cover my eyes and hold my breath until it passed over us. When it did and I opened my eyes, I saw that we were back in the same room as before, with the platform and pole. Rise and the others were at the far end of the room, while myself, Souji, Kanji and Yosuke were all over the place. Teddie's Shadow was back to its smaller size, and it was just standing there at the room's doorway with a blank expression on its face.

Everyone made their way to the center of the room, and when we were gathered there, Souji used Media that healed every one of us. It also got Teddie conscious again.

"Was that part of you, Teddie...?" Yukiko asked him right away.

Chie sighed and said, "Even Teddie had a hidden side..."

Teddie turned back to his counterpart. "I... I don't know who I am..." he said. "I've thought a number of times that... maybe there is no answer... But I'm here... I live here..."

"You're not alone, Teddie," Souji said. "Remember that."

"Then... I don't have to do this all on my own...?" the bear asked, turning to the leader.

"Dude, we'll help you figure it out," Yosuke said.

"I'm sure we'll find out about you, as we continue investigating this world," Yukiko told him.

"We'll help you in any way we can," I told him, patting his fluffy head. The bear stared at all of us for a quick second, then started bawling his eyes out.

"Y-you guys...!" he said. "I'm... I'm one lucky bear! Waaaaah!"

Suddenly, Shadow Teddie started to glow a bright blue. "Is that...?" Chie started.

"A Persona...?" Yosuke finished. Teddie stopped crying and walked up to his Shadow, which promptly disappeared and was replaced with something else. It was this round thing with red armor and a blue cape. It was holding onto a missile that had some sort of huge dish at the top of it, almost like a satellite. The missile was pointed upwards, and it was like it could act as a kind of radar. At the bottom end of the missile was a sort of helmet-thing dangling from it, big enough to fit over Teddie's head. The Persona disappeared and was replaced by a card that gently spun downwards.

"Kintoki-Douji..." Teddie whispered. He turned to the rest of us. "Is this my Persona...?"

"I... I guess it is!" Kanji yelled, surprised.

"Congrats, dude!" I grinned at him.

"Wow... That's awesome, Teddie..."

And after saying that, Rise promptly fell to the floor.

"Rise-chan!" Yukiko shouted, and we all ran over to her.

"Are you alright?" Chie asked, surprised like the rest of us. "Oh yeah, you've been in here for a while, haven't you?"

"That's true...!" I said. I knelt down to her and offered her my hand. "Can you stand?"

She looked up at me and took my hand with a smile. "Yeah... I think... I'll need a little help..." I took her arm and put it over my shoulder, and carefully stood up with her. To make sure she didn't fall over, I hesitantly put an arm around her waist. She didn't react to that though, and instead said, "Thanks..."

"D-don't mention it," I said. I looked at the others. "I... think it's time for us to go."

* * *

We were making quick progress out of the club, and whenever we'd come across a Shadow the others would deal with it.

A few floors down, Rise giggled suddenly. "Hmm? What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, really..." she replied weakly. "It's just that... You must be considering yourself lucky... to have your arm around an idol's waist..."

"H-huh...?" Actually, I had forgotten about that. I felt my face turn red and I looked back to the path ahead. "I-I... I wasn't..."

"Hmm... Don't worry about it..." Rise chuckled again.

There was some more silence before I had to ask something. Something that's been on my mind for a while. "Um..." Rise glanced up at me. "What... your Shadow said... Was... was that true...?"

Rise was silent for a second, then she mumbled something and looked back towards the path. "What my Shadow said..." She lightly shook her head. "No, that wasn't true..."

"...Oh... I... I see..."

"Though... it is true that... I've been thinking about you. But... that's only because of... this weird feeling..."

"...Mmm," I said quietly. "I still don't know what it is..."

She looked up at me and smiled softly. "We'll figure that out... someday..."

"Yeah... Hopefully."

* * *

We eventually made it back to the TV World's entrance. We got Rise through the TV stack's middle one, and when we left Junes, Chie and Yukiko offered to take her home. I figured I'd had my arm around her for long enough, so she went off with my two senpai. She looked back to me after a bit of walking down the street, and I waved to her. A small smile formed on her face and she waved back.

When they turned the corner, my own smile fell and I was left out in the middle of the street. Yosuke and Kanji had left already, and Souji didn't even leave the other world when we left, opting to stay and talk with Teddie for a bit. I was by myself, so I decided to return to the inn and try to fall asleep.

But every attempt failed, because of what had happened earlier.

_Why...? Why do I feel... sad? So... heartbroken?_

**

* * *

Oh, hi there. I didn't realize you actually bothered to read this full chapter (joking! XP).**

**So, Teddie replaces Rise! Not the other way around, huh? Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering, Chie and Yukiko were telling Rise what the spells were (like the Elec Shield Shadow Teddie used) so that she could yell out to the others and tell them.**

**Any questions or comments? Want to criticise my writing? Want to utterly kill me? Go right ahead (except that last one, no killing please)!**


	12. New Member

**Hmmm... I've started reading Casey W's Face Every Shadow. It's really good, I strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.**

**Anywhos, reviews:**

**Gamerof1458:** Yes, poor Andrew indeed. Rise will have some trouble getting used to fighting, but she'll turn out alright eventually.

**Unknown:** No, Rise will not have Teddie's skills. She has her own set, which will have three of the regular magic skills (like Bufu, etc.).

**Casey W:** Thank you so much for the review! I wasn't thinking I'd get one right away. You must be able to read quickly. Actually, the reason I think your story's better is because it's more humorous than mine. Plus, we have the same number of chapters, yet you have over 100 reviews... (-.-;) Anyways!

Andrew is certainly not a self-insert; he's completely different from me. He's more serious about mostly anything: like school work, trying to make friends, saving people from a demonic world inside the TV... the normal stuff, right? Though there is a bit of humour in him... And you thought Shadow Andrew was tame? Huh, I thought making him flip out like that would seem more aggressive... Oh well, not much I can do about it now, anyways.

And do NOT worry, love is NOT a part of Andrew's and Rise's connection. It's something I, myself, created. Though, as you can probably tell by the way the story's going, they will end up together. Eventually.

Normally, I would've decided to go with the way you're writing your story, like having Andrew's own thoughts directly narrate the story. That's not the case, and for a reason too (not sure if it's a _good_ reason, now, but who knows...) And it's because of me updating so often that my school work's falling behind... I think I care for this story more than myself. Is that bad? o.O

Thanks again! You don't know how honored I am to get a review from you!

**Okay, let's hope this chapter is good~**

**Disclaimer: You should know this by now if you've been reading.**

**

* * *

~June 24th~**

**~Friday~**

**~11:30PM~**

* * *

'_**It's because you have feelings for her.'**_

"W... What?" I was suddenly transported back to Wyvern's domain. Said dragon was, once again, towering over me. First time in a while I've felt short again.

...Actually, no, scratch that. Looking up at Rise's and Teddie's Shadows made my neck hurt.

'_**I said, it is because you care deeply for her.'**_

"And again, I say 'what'? I've only been around her, like- What was it, one, two, three... four times! I couldn't have... er, developed feelings that quickly, could I?"

'_**It may not be true love yet, but it is possible that this is, what you humans call, a 'high school crush.''**_ I glared at it. _**'Of course, it could be related to those OTHER feelings you've had around her...'**_

"You mean, that 'sixth sense' I have...?"

'_**Indeed. However, I, too, do not know of it's details. We must investigate this further if we want to know more.'**_

"...Seriously? More investigating? I'm already part of a team of amateur detectives. I don't think I want to do any more snooping around then necessary."

Wyvern just stared down at me. _**'If you insist. But you will be wondering about the matter.'**_

I raised an eyebrow. "And just how do you know that?"

'_**...You've forgotten again, haven't you? I am you, and-'**_

"Right, right, sorry!"

**

* * *

~June 27th~**

**~Monday~**

**~3:30PM~**

* * *

I was walking down the hallway to the shoe locker. Kanji had left class the moment the bell rang, probably because he got on Ms. Omukay's bad side today. It's rude to stretch your legs out from under a desk when a teacher walks by. The floor can hurt, too, you know.

I yawned as I continued my seemingly long walk. Even though it's been two days, I was still worried about Rise. According to Chie, she still hasn't woke up yet, which is apparently normal for someone who got thrown into the TV. Hell, I can't even remember waking up anytime after I was rescued.

As I reached the shoe lockers, something caught my eye. It was a bright red that was down at the other end of the hall. From where I stood, it looked like a light, but as I walked closer to it it became apparent that it was a button.

"What's this do...?" I asked myself, curiosity taking over. "And why haven't I noticed this before?" Deciding that I'd see what it does, I quickly looked around. Thankfully, everyone was already gone, whether it was out of school or to their clubs. I inched my hand closer to it and-

"Andrew?"

"WAH!" I quickly jumped away from the button in fright. Souji was just standing there, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. "S-Senpai! Where'd you come from?"

He laughed. "The others always said I can pop up from anywhere. I guess that proves it."

"Geez... Don't scare me like that."

"So, what're you up to?"

"Huh?" I glanced at the red button, then back to Souji. "Uh, nothing."

"You want to hang out?"

_...Well THAT came from nowhere_. "Um, sure, I guess... Not much going on, since we're waiting for Rise-chan..."

Souji's smile partially fell, but it quickly went back up. "Don't worry about her. Just like you, Yukiko-chan and Kanji, she'll wake up soon."

"Yeah, I hope you're right..."

* * *

So, we wound up going to this steak bowl place called Aiya. I think Chie mentioned it once, but I can't really remember clearly. We ordered our food and chatted while we waited.

"So, I was thinking about buying a game system," I said. "I had an Xbox 360 back home, but I had to leave it when I came here."

"Did you enjoy playing it?" Souji asked me.

"Yeah, a lot. I'd always play with my friends whenever they were on."

"What games did you play?"

"Um, let's see... Our favorite game to play was a first person shooter called Black Ops. I'd always play multiplayer mode, yet whenever no one was on I'd play the actual campaign - the single player story mode."

"And you're friends always played with you when they were on?"

"Yep, totally! I wasn't the best out of all of us, but I had fun playing with them." I suddenly frowned. _Dammit, made myself depressed again! _"...'S too bad they're most likely asleep right now..."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Souji said. "If you're lucky, they might decide to pull an all-nighter, just for you."

I blinked, and looked at Souji. He had this... big smile on his face that wasn't normal on him.

_Wyvern, you don't happen to know why Souji's having an out of character moment, do you?_

'_**I... cannot say that I do.'**_

"What's wrong?" Souji asked, his smile gone.

"Oh! Uh, nothing, senpai..." I lied. "Just... thinking."

"About Rise-chan?"

_...Greeeat, even more depressed now._ "Ah... yeah."

"I told you before: she'll be fine." Souji's smile from before returned. "Anyway, our steak bowl's are here. Eat up!"

I noticed that there was this huge bowl of meat and noodles in front of me. I chose to forget about those thoughts and dig in.

...Well, I _tried_ to, but this was, like, the first time I used chopsticks. I always bought forks whenever I went out to get groceries, and I always specifically ordered them when the team decided to go to Junes or something. But I actually haven't had chopsticks in my hand before now.

Souji must've caught my hesitation, because he asked, "What's up?"

"Uh... This is embarrassing to say 'cause I've been here so long and stuff, but... I don't know how to hold chopsticks."

He blinked, then chuckled. "Really? I thought you'd be able to catch onto something as easy as that." He held out his own chopsticks. "See? You have to hold the bottom stick between your middle finger and the joint of your thumb, then you have to put the other one in between the tip of your thumb and your index finger."

"Oh, I think I get it!" I attempted it, and got it. "Alright!"

"Good job!" Souji said with a thumbs up.

_..Waitaminute._ "You know English?"

"A bit. I spent a bit of time in the US before I came here. But that was a while ago, and I'm a bit rusty on that language."

"Oh, I see..." I said, putting a hand to my chin. "So you're kinda like me, going to a whole new continent without your parent's supervision?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," he said with a chuckle.

Then I realized something. Something that I was told about a month ago. Souji moved here because of his parent's work. Yukiko is the daughter of the Amagi Inn's manager. According to the crazy lady who randomly told me that rumour, could that mean...?

"Senpai, do you like Yukiko-senpai?"

...Wide eyes, blush, glancing around, nervous breakdown. "W-Where did you hear that to?"

I smirked and raised an eyebrow "Aha, so our fearless leader isn't so tough when it comes to this, eh?"

He fumbled a bit more, but then his own smirk appeared. "How about you, hmm? You seemed just a _little_ overjoyed carrying Rise-chan the other day..."

"Wha- D-Dude, you got it wrong! I was- I was just helping her!"

"You seemed pretty happy to me, though."

"B-But...!" Click. "...You say that, and yet you always teamed up with Yukiko-senpai during our random battles..."

"...L-Let's just eat our food. It's probably cooled down enough now."

"Oh, right!" I checked my chopsticks again to make sure they were right and dug into the meal.

"_GAH!_" Oh, and it was spicy. _Very_ spicy. But, that's the way I like it. "It's amazing!"

"Well, I'd imagine," Souji replied. "Aiya puts a little special something in all of his dishes, according to Chie-chan. This is one of the best places in town to get something like this."

"I'm gonna hafta agree with you on that," I said through a stuffed mouth, "even though I've yet to actually try any other places out."

"We'll go somewhere else next time, then, and see how you like their meals."

"Sure!" I said, but a large piece of meat suddenly went down too fast. I started choking, and I began to hit my chest hard to get the thing out. It finally did, but when I looked at Souji he was laughing like a madman.

Or like Yukiko.

"Senpai, it's not that funny. I coulda died," I said, trying my best to look mad. But laughter is contagious, and I started laughing with him, too.

_Seriously, though, what's up with him? He'd never laugh like this before..._

**

* * *

~July 3rd~**

**~Sunday~**

**~10:45AM~**

* * *

Sundays are my favorite day of the week now. Since school in Japan also covers Saturdays, this is my one true day to actually relax. So, in doing so, I decided to spend _all_ of today watching TV.

...Or I would have, if it wasn't for Kanji's interference.

"Wassup?" I asked upon answering.

"Hey, man," Kanji answered. "We're all gonna get together and talk about the kidnappings some more. You wanna come?"

"Don't think I have much of a choice..." I sighed. "There goes my marathon of Featherman R..."

* * *

And so we all gathered at the special headquarters.

_Dammit, I do NOT like this place._ "Remind me again why we can't just have, like, an _actual_ secret headquarters."

"'Cause it'd take too much time to make," Yosuke answered. "Plus, I don't trust Chie with anything other than her greaves."

"What?" the girl shouted.

"Nothing."

"So, what exactly will we be talkin' bout?" Kanji asked as we all seated at the familiar table.

"We'll be talking about what we know so far," Souji answered, back to his regular self. "We'll just be going over the facts to see if we missed anything."

"Okay, then let's start off," I said. "Some guy and/or girl has been throwing the people who've been interviewed on TV _into_ the TV. Pretty much that night - depending on if it's raining or not - that person will show up on the Midnight Channel, but they'll appear really blurry and stuff. Even though they show up on it, they're not actually inside the other world. However, it's almost as if the kidnapper is taunting us; like he's showing us a hard-to-see picture of the person he'll throw in next, trying to get us to find and protect them. When the person who appeared on the Midnight Channel actually _does_ get thrown into the TV, though, there's this weird TV show that's broadcasted on the Midnight Channel. The fact that they're actually talking and that we can see it clearly means that we've got some rescuing to do." I paused and looked at the others. "Everything right so far?"

They hesitated a bit, but most of them nodded. "Alright, then. When we go into the TV, we find this completely new area that appeared because of that person's inner thoughts. We then form teams, go through the new 'dungeon,' meet the victim's Shadow, watch it run away, follow it, and finally confront it at the highest room in the place. There, it'll spill all of the victim's deepest, darkest secrets, wherein the person will be ashamed of his/herself, reject the idea that their Shadow is part of them, and get knocked unconscious when their Shadow goes into it's 'One Winged Angel' form."

"'One Winged Angel'?" Yukiko titled her head. "What's that?"

"Don't ask, please," I sighed. "Anyways, the Shadow tries to kill its original, but they've only succeeded in doing that twice. The other times, we - or, you guys - have come to the victim's rescue. You fight the Shadow, beat it, it returns to normal, the victim accepts it, gets a Persona, then doesn't wake up for a few weeks. ...Or, in my case, one week."

Silence.

"Uh..." Yosuke blinked. "You're... a quick learner."

"You think so? Well, my family said that I can remember stuff easily if I try to..."

"Hey..." Chie started. "Do you think that... the kidnapper is just thinking of this as a game?" We all looked at her. "Well, I mean, from the way you said it, Andrew-kun, it's like he _wants_ us to find the victim before he throws them in. Sort of like a challenge for us..."

"...And if we fail to keep an eye on the victim, he'll put them in the TV...?" Souji asked.

"That sounds a bit..." Yosuke's face scrunched, "...confusing. I mean, for one, how would the kidnapper be able to put images of a person on TV? I don't think he'd have access to something like that..."

"Well, maybe he's part of a TV company?" Kanji asked. "He could be putting those pictures of us on the Midnight Channel that way."

"That could be one way that they'd get us on the TV," Yukiko said. "But when you guys appeared on it before getting kidnapped, the images on the TV were... lifelike. I don't think that someone would be able to create something _that_ good..."

"And not only that..." Souji put a hand on his chin. "The victim gets thrown into the TV even if we _do_ find them. Even if we try to keep them out of harms way, they'll just be thrown in there eventually..."

"...So then there wouldn't really be a point in doing that?" Chie asked, then sighed. "Back to square one once again..."

"Maybe there's a clue in the TV World...?" I thought aloud. "You guys have only searched around the places that have appeared, right? What about the rest of the world, away from all of that? I mean, it's not like the path to the mansion didn't have anything surrounding it..."

"But, it'd be easy to get lost if we go off the paths, won't it?" Yukiko asked.

"Well, why don't we use my plan from before?" I asked with a grin. "I'll wander off and if I can find anything, I'll shout reeeeeeally loudly."

"I still don't think that'll work," Chie frowned. "It's still too dangerous."

"Fine..." I sighed as I leaned back. "We should go back in there soon, anyway. We haven't been in there for at least a week, and Teddie's got-" I shot up. "Teddie! He's got that Persona now, right? Kin-something-whatever. Maybe he's able to find something we haven't found yet!"

The others considered this, and we decided to go into the TV. However, when we got to the electronics department, there was something there that I haven't seen yet: Junes's staff.

"Huh? There's staff here?" Chie asked. Apparently they haven't seen anyone here before, either.

"Now that's unusual..." Yosuke whispered. Theory proven. He walked up to the two. "Hi there. Did something happen?"

The woman looked at him. "Ah, Yosuke-kun."

"Great timing," the guy said. "Did the manager tell you anything about this? There's been this weird mascot around our department for quite a while now... Is there some kind of campaign today?"

"Mascot...?" I whispered. "Could he mean...?"

"He said his name was... Uh, what was it?" The woman scratched her head. "Terry? Eddie?"

The man turned to her. "Well, there are no customers around, so I guess it's fine... I better get back to my station." The two of them left the area.

"Please don't tell me..." Yosuke sighed, putting pinching the bridge of his nose.

Chie suddenly glanced over to the left and gasped. "Whoa, h-he's here!"

"Huh?" I glanced to where she was looking and saw Teddie in... Was he in a massage chair?

"Ahhh... This really hits the spot..." the bear said happily. There was a strange noise coming from his shaking, but no one brought it up.

"Wh-What the...? I mean, how'd you...?" Yosuke attempted as we approached the bear.

Teddie's smile widened. "It took you guys long enough! I've been waiting! Oooh, this feels so nice..."

"Teddie, are you okay on this side?" Yukiko asked him.

"How did you even _leave_ your side?" Kanji asked as well.

"Of course I can come out!" Teddie yelled. "There's an exit, you know." _Well, obviously there is. _"It just never occurred to me to do it before."

"It was there all this time, and yet you didn't even bother to come out?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Nope!" He sounded a little too happy. "But spending time with you all sparked my curiosity about this world! I did wonder if it was a good idea, but my feet started moving before I could decide. And when I thought about it, I had no where to go, and it was a waste to go back. So I waited for you here. Oh, someone asked for my name, so I told them, 'I'm Teddie.'"

"So that's why..." Chie frowned.

"Was it a good idea to tell them your name?" I asked. I shook my head, "Anyway, we wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah," Yukiko nodded. "We were wondering if we can go back into the TV and look around for any clues that might help us figure that place out."

"With your new Persona, we might be able to find things that we didn't before," Yosuke said.

"Hmm, that _is _a good idea..." Teddie mused. He hopped out of the massage chair, though he forgot to turn it off. "Unfortunately, I don't want to go back right now."

"Wh-what?" Chie asked.

"I haven't been on this side for long, and the only thing I've seen was this cool chair!" Teddie said, pointing back to it. "There's so much I have to see! I don't want to return yet!"

"C'mon, Ted," Kanji said. "We can look around later. Let's go back into the TV and get this over with."

"Wait, we shouldn't," Souji said. I was about to ask why when he nodded to the TVs. "There are customers there now." Indeed, there were people just looking at the different TVs. "We wouldn't be able to get in without being seen."

"Damn..." Yosuke muttered. He sighed and said, "Well, guess there's no choice. Let's go back to the food court and get some food. I'm hungry."

"Wait, what do you mean 'no choice'?" Chie asked. They all walked back in the direction we came, but I stayed behind.

"I've never been in a massage chair before..." I whispered. I hopped in and... "WOW. This is niiiice..."

* * *

We got back to the table, where all of us except for Yosuke sat down.

"Hey," my senpai asked Teddie. "You didn't bother to look around while you were over there, did you?"

"Actually, yes," the bear replied. "Though I was still new to summoning my Persona, so I didn't get much searching done..."

"Well, where _did_ you look around?" I asked.

"Yuki-chan's castle, Kanji's sauna, your mansion, and Rise-chan's club," Teddie said.

"And... you never went away from the path to search?"

"No way! The Shadows away from those places could've been even more dangerous, and I can't fight! I've got no muscle."

"Oh, right..."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't stray too far from the path," Chie said. "We wouldn't want anything happening to you."

"Aww, thanks Chie-chan!" He looked around a bit. "So, speaking of the club, are there any more like that around here? I'd like to go to another one!" I think everyone face-palmed, but I know I sure did. "Oh, and speaking of the club again, can we go visit Rise-chan, too?"

"Huh? Why?" Yukiko asked.

"I wanted to give her a pair of these," Teddie pulled out a pair of pink glasses. "They're especially for her, now that she's part of the team. Here, you hold onto them."

"Why me?" I asked, taking the glasses.

"Because you know her the best, silly! Plus, I think you'll eventually score with her!"

"H-Huh?" I blushed. I heard Yukiko mumble something about 'this whole scoring business.'

"Oh, yeah, that's true!" Chie said, grinning. "You had your arm around her didn't you? You must've enjoyed that!"

"Wh-What? I-I..."

"C'mon, there's no need to hide it!" Chie continued, "I think it's really cute that you like her!"

"What!" I shouted. "I-I don't like her like _that!_ She's just... just..."

"Someone you care deeply for?" Souji asked, also smiling.

"...Please, make this stop." I head-desked. Or tabled, or something.

"C'mon, guys that's enough tormenting him." _Ah, thank you Yosuke-senpai, for being there when I need wait, why are you grinning like that?_ "You can do that later." _...Bastard._

"Alright, fine," Chie giggled.

"_Wow_, it's hot here!" Then Teddie started unzipping his head.

"Wha-! Stop that!" Yosuke hissed, and slammed the bear's head down. "Cut it out, there's kids watching! Geez, they'd be scarred for life if they see an empty mascot walking around. Have some consideration, man."

"So... Teddie really _doesn't_ have anything in him?" Yukiko asked. "Like, if you reach inside him, you won't feel anything? You'll just keep reaching down?"

"Exactly," Souji said. "His Shadow was like that, too, wasn't it?"

"Dude, don't bring that up," Yosuke sighed. "I'm having nightmares because of that."

"Actually, I'm no longer a hollow bear!" Teddie announced. Then he did an evil laugh.

"...Wha?" I deadpanned.

"Since I got that Persona, I figured I needed to be in tip-top shape to help you guys! So I trained and trained, and now I finally have an inside!"

"Dude, you're hollow," Yosuke raised an eyebrow. "Taking your head off isn't gonna cool you down!"

"But I just told you! I'm not hollow anymore!" Teddie yelled. He tried to fan himself with his fuzzy hand. "Agh, it's too hot! I can't stand it..." And then he took his head off.

_..._

_...Dude, Teddie is HOT... In, uh, a totally not gay way._

_**'Really, now?'**_

_Shut up, Wyvern._

"Hey, Chie-chan, Yuki-chan," the now blonde and sweaty bear said to the girls.

"Uh... y-yes?" Chie asked.

"Do you have anything to wear? I'm basically like a new born at the moment..."

"N-Newborn?" I asked. "Dude. Don't take the costume off. Seriously."

"W-Wha? Y-You need some clothes, right?" Chie asked, her face bright red. "C'mon, let's go look around..."

When Chie, Yukiko and Teddie left, Kanji spoke. "That's... Teddie...? He said he's not hollow anymore... So, like, he grew himself a body in there?"

"What kind of creature would do that?" Yosuke cringed. "I mean... what _is_ he?"

"...This just raises further questions," I sighed.

"Then again," Yosuke said. "This is hardly the first bizarre thing we've seen."

"And not only that, it's probably better than walking around in his bear suit," Souji added.

"Speaking of that, I'm pretty warm, too," I said. "Hey, is there any ice cream places around here?"

"Um..." Yosuke thought. "There's Topsicles at Shiroku Store, down in the shopping district..."

"The district?" I asked. "Hey, if we're going down there, why don't we see if Rise-chan's up?"

"So what, you can check her out again?" Kanji asked.

"...I said _please stop_."

"Yeah, that's enough for now." Souji intervened. "Teddie should be fine with the girls, so let's go there."

* * *

"Hey, Andrew, what do you feel?" Yosuke asked. "Is she moving around?"

"...Dude, I didn't mean 'see if she's alright this way'. This makes it seem like we're indirectly spying on her," I sighed.

"So, anything?"

I face-palmed. "...No, her presence isn't moving. Unless she's sitting down somewhere, I think we can assume she's still asleep."

"Oh... Alright, then." He pointed past Marukyu, "The store's down there, so let's get some of those Topsicles."

"Alright!" Kanji yelled, and he quickly walked up the street.

"So, are Topsicles like popsicles?" I asked as my senpai and I followed him.

"Pretty much," Souji answered. "The only difference is the fact that it's so cheap."

"Yeah, but you can really put weight on if you eat too many too quickly," Yosuke added.

"I only have one or two frozen treats at a time, so I'm not worried about that," I replied.

When we got to the shop, Kanji had already bought five ice creams: one for each of us, plus a second one for himself. _The greedy bastard._

"Mmmm-mmm!" Kanji said with his mouth full. "It's finally the season for Topsicles again!"

Yosuke looked at him and sighed. "Dude, how many are you gonna eat? You're gonna get a stomach ache..."

"Huh, these are pretty tasty..." I remarked. "But you can really taste the sugar they put onto it..."

"That's why they're so cheap," Souji replied. "They'll fatten you right up if you're not careful."

Chie and Yukiko suddenly walked up to us, seemingly out of breath. "Sorry we're late..."

"How'd it take you that long to find clothes for Ted?" Yosuke asked.

Said bear walked in between the girls and-

"Teddie!" I said, both eyebrows raised. "Lookin' sharp, man!" The guy had on a rather fancy looking white shirt and black pants. There was even a rose strapped on to make it look even more garnished.

"Whoa!" Yosuke gawked. "I-Is that you, Teddie...?"

"Oui, monsieur!" I didn't know Teddie knew French. "How do I look?"

"What, did you ditch the bear suit?" Souji asked.

Kanji gasped. "You lost the suit? Man, that sucks..." Teddie raised a (human) eyebrow. "I mean... the fuzziness was... Argh, forget it! What're you lookin' at?"

"I have to say, it totally blew my mind," Chie said, "but he's Teddie alright. This guy had to make it a huge ordeal... Everything was new to him, so it turned into a big mess. He was so excited in the women's section that he started blabbering..." Her brow furrowed at the (human) bear. "Hey, you can't just go around doing whatever you please when you're in this form, got it?" Teddie sighed and hung his head.

"Well, he can't help it," Yukiko defended him. "It's his first time in our world."

Chie thought it over, and looked back at Teddie, who still had his (human) head hung. "All right... You don't need to get all mopey like that. I never said I won't forgive you!"

Teddie's head shot up with a big smile on his face. "I'm so glad! I was worried you didn't like me anymore."

Chie giggled. "Man... If you can behave yourself, you'll be pretty cute."

"Is he cute...?" Yosuke asked. Every one of us turned to Kanji. "What do you think, Kanji?"

"Huh?" the big guy said. "What're you asking me for?"

"Well, I was just wondering if he was your type."

"...Not _this_ again." I face-palmed for the third time today.

"Ohhh... I get it," Kanji glared at Yosuke. "What you're really asking is... 'Will you please beat the shit out of me, Kanji?'"

Yosuke got nervous, and Yukiko started laughing. I have to admit, though, it _was_ a little funny.

"It ain't funny, Yukiko-senpai," Kanji told her. No, no it wasn't funny at all.

"S-Sorr-heehee..." Yukiko giggled.

Chie sighed. "You'll have to forgive Yukiko. She's helpless once she get's this way..."

"Oooh, please, everyone!" Teddie cried out. "Don't fight over me, baby!"

"I think we forgot about you half-way through all that, bud," I told the blondie. Yukiko continued to laugh at us.

"Geez... Oh well." Yosuke said, and he handed a paper yen to Kanji. "Here, Kanji. Get whatever ice cream you want, just share it with Teddie."

"Wow!" Teddie's mouth was agape. "You're rich!"

"I can't just take this from you!" Kanji said, and tried to force the yen back into Yosuke's pocket.

"D-Dude, quit that!" Yosuke cried, trying to get away from the guy. When he did, he bumped into me, making me drop my Topsicle.

I remained silent as I stared at my ruined treat. I then glanced at Yosuke. "Why?"

"Uh..." was all he could get out. He took the yen back from Kanji and handed it to me. "Here. Get something for you and Teddie."

"Oh, okay." I said. "1000 yen, huh? Not bad." I looked back to the new human. "C'mon, Ted! I'll get'cha something."

"Alright!" Teddie cried and rushed into the shop with me.

The inside of the shop was nothing special. It was really small, so everything that was on display was all smunched together. It was pretty crowded, even though it was just me, a (human) bear, and the store owner, who greeted us upon entering.

There was a cooler off to the side of the shop, which had the ice cream we were looking for. "Which flavor do you want, Ted?"

"Hmm..." Teddie looked over the ice cream wrappers. Each one had the name of the flavor they were, like strawberry, grape, orange, lime, lemon, and the like. "I think I'll have... All of them!"

"...Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I can get _all_ of them with only a thousand yen..." Teddie looked like he was about to cry. I sighed and looked to the shop's owner. "How much for a Topsicle?"

"Two hundred yen each," the woman said with a smile.

"Okay, I can get you four, if you want, and I'll have one." He seemed pleased by that, so I got him four different flavors, and one orange flavor for myself.

"Wowee!" Teddie said in delight. "This thing's amazing!" He kept eating away at the one he was eating.

"Don't eat too quickly, or you'll get-"

"_Owww owowowow!_"

"...Brain freeze." I munched on my own Topsicle as the two of us walked outside. When we were out-

"_You put it on my account!_" Yosuke screamed. "_What the HELL, Chie!_"

"What else were we supposed to do?" Chie yelled back. "This stuff was expensive, even for Junes!"

Teddie and I walked up next to Kanji. "What's with all the shouting?" Ted asked, his mouth full of icy, creamy goodness.

"Apparently Chie-senpai charged those clothes you're weain' onto Yosuke-senpai's account," Kanji answered.

"Oh, that?" Teddie asked. "Chie-chan told me not to worry about it, so I didn't think it was important."

"Of course it's important!" Yosuke yelled at him. He turned back to Chie. "You knew I've been saving up to buy a motorcycle!"

"Oh, that?" Chie asked. "You don't need one."

**_'Harsh.'_**

_You said it._

"_WHAT!"_ Yosuke screamed. His fists were clenched pretty tightly; they were even turning white. He looked back to Teddie with a glare in his eye and a vein on his forehead. "You listen here, Ted... You better take really, really, REALLY good care of that suit. If you put even a single tear in it, I'll make your next set of clothes out of the bear hide you took off!"

"I didn't know you could knit, Yosuke," Souji said with a smug grin.

"_That's besides the point!_" he shouted at him.

_Hang on. Rise-senses tingling._

"Guys, I think you're waking Rise-chan up, 'cause I can feel her moving around now."

Yosuke and Chie didn't listen. They kept their argument going, as if the world would end if they stopped.

"Let's go meet up with her, then." Souji said. Yukiko and I nodded, but Kanji decided to get another ice cream, so he and Teddie went back in the shop. The three of us that remained walked over to the shop next door.

And who else did we find but that hat-wearing cross-dresser from the other day?

"Ah... I had a feeling you'd come," he... she... _it_ said.

"You're...!" Yukiko gasped.

The kid walked down the tofu shop's stairs. "Are you here to ingratiate yourself with Rise Kujikawa now?"

"In...gra-ti-ate?" I raised an eyebrow. _Fricken' small kid using fricken' big words..._

Yosuke and Chie decided to come up behind us at that point, with the former mumbling something about a clerk. He gasped when he saw the... _person_ in front of us. "Huh? W-Wait, you're that _guy_ we saw with Kanji...!"

I sighed.

"Precisely," the kid said. "I don't believe I've ever introduced myself. My name is Naoto Shirogane. I'm investigating the multiple murders and kidnappings that have occurred here."

_Oh snap._

"Mind if I ask you a few questions on the subject?" Naoto continued.

At that moment, Rise came out of the tofu shop. I must've been too wrapped up with this Naoto guy/chick/thing, 'cause I didn't even feel her come out.

"Oh, hey guys," she said with a warm smile. "Are you all here to check up on me?"

She looked... _cute_. She had an orange tank top-dress with a yellow floral pattern on it and white slacks underneath. I smiled back at her. "Yeah, we were wondering how you were feeling." I got nasty glares from the others.

"I see..." Naoto said. _Oh SNAP._ "And just how do you know of Rise Kujikawa? Personally, I mean."

_Question's regarded to me, THINK!_ "Oh, I, uh... just happened to meet her here one day," I said. It's the truth, no matter how little I tell. "She was just working at the tofu shop, and I came in. We started talking and became friends."

Naoto didn't seem to buy excuse, but _it_ accepted it anyways. "And you all?"

Souji spoke up, "He told Rise-chan about us, and she said she wanted to meet us."

_Quick thinking, senpai!_

Naoto put a hand to... _You know, __I'm just gonna call her a girl from now on._ Naoto put a hand to _her_ chin. "I see..." she said. "Very well, then. Let's end it here." She walked right passed us, but stopped. "For my part, I'd like to solve this case as quickly as possible." She looked at each of us and said, "I'll be keeping an eye on you all. ...Well then, until we meet again." Then she left.

"You think he suspects we have something to do with the case?" Chie asked when Naoto was out of earshot.

"Most definitely," Yosuke answered. "He seemed to know what he was doing."

"For the _last time,_" I hissed, "that was a _girl_."

"It was?" Chie asked. She looked in the direction Naoto had went. "...Now that I think about it, he was a little short..."

"Oh, not you, too, Chie!" Yosuke smacked his forehead. "I've been trying to tell these guys that there's no way that can be a chick! I mean, his name's _Naoto_, for Christ's sake!"

"He could've been lying," Souji said.

"Just... just forget this!" Yosuke stomped his foot on the ground.

"..." I didn't say a word, but turned to Rise. "Did... uh, Naoto ask you any questions?"

She nodded. "Mhm. Um, he just asked-"

"She."

"..._She_ just asked me some questions regarding my kidnapping. I thought it was best to play it safe and not mention the other world."

"Good, good..." Souji nodded. "We're the only ones who know of it, so it's good that you didn't mention it."

"Right," Rise nodded. "Oh, um... She also asked me about you guys, too, but I just made some stuff up..."

I blinked. "D-Did what you say... happen to work for or against what I told her?"

She thought for a moment, "Mostly for, I think."

"Alright, good," I sighed.

"Hey, do you guys have a moment? There's something I want to tell you."

"Yeah, we've got time," I answered for everyone.

"Follow me, then. My grandma's taking care of the shop today." Rise walked passed us and up the district. We followed her, and she led us to the shrine that I never bothered to visit. When we got to the end of the path, Rise turned around and started explaining. "Yeah, I remember being at my house..." She shook her head and her smile faded. "When I came to, though, I was already in the other world."

Chie exaggerated a sigh. "Still no real information on the killer..."

"Um, so..." Rise continued, but she just lowered her head awkwardly.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Um... I-I really appreciate what you did for me..."

And then her smile shone brighter than I ever imagined.

"Thank you soooo much! I love you guys!"

_L-Love...?_

"Awww, you don't have to thank us!" Chie insisted.

"Dude..." Yosuke blushed. "She's so cute..."

'_**It looks like you'll have some competition for her.'**_

_Shut UP, Wyvern._

"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Souji asked.

"Well, I know I sounded gloomy and all from stress," Rise answered, "So, I-I thought you might not like me that way... Do I... sound weird?"

"No, of course you don't!" I answered with a smile. "I-I think I'd rather you like this."

"Oh, um... Thanks."

_Is... Is she blushing? Oh, shit, I think I am too._ We both looked away from each other quickly.

Rise recovered quicker than me, thankfully. "I'm glad you're the first people I got to know here," she said with a chuckle.

"Oh, yeah, we almost forgot your present," Chie said. "The Teddie Glasses."

"Oh, right!" I reached into my back pocket and took out the pink glasses. "These are for you. That is, if you want to join..."

Rise stared at the glasses in my hand, then said, "Yes, I want to join."

"What, seriously?" Yosuke asked.

"Of course. You guys would be at a disadvantage without me, right?"

"But, can you even fight?" Yukiko asked.

"N-Not really, but I can learn, can't I?"

"Hopefully quickly," Souji replied. "This will be very dangerous. If we're not careful, any one of us could be killed. Are you still up for it?"

She hesitated for a little, but her face soon showed determination. "Yeah, I am. I'll help whatever way I can."

I smiled. "Good, thank you." I handed her the glasses and explained what they did.

"I see..." Rise said after I finished. "I do remember you guys wearing them over there..."

"I don't mean to change the subject or anything," Chie spoke up, "but have you decided where you'll be going to school yet?"

"Yeah," Rise replied. "I'll be going to Yasogami High School."

"Really?" Yukiko said. "We all go there!"

"Seriously?" Rise's eyes widened, then she smiled again. "Thank goodness... I'm glad I'll be able to see you guys everyday now."

"Don't worry," I said. "If anyone tries to get at you, I'll make sure to keep you safe."

...

...

_...Did I just say that?_

"Oh, u-um..." Now Rise's face went _really_ red. "T-Thanks... I-I'll be counting on you..."

..._YES._

"All... righty then," Yosuke said. "Let's discuss the case some more tomorrow at our special headquarters."

"I told you before, it's not that special," I shot at him.

"It's the name we decided on, so we're gonna keep calling it that," Yosuke's eyes narrowed.

"Will you quit bickering back and forth like that?" Chie shouted. "If it's not one thing, it's another!"

"All I'm doing is just stating my opinion!" I shouted back.

"Well, we don't really have any other place to meet up," Yosuke yelled, "so you're opinion doesn't really matter!"

"Just shut up!" Chie yelled. "Don't make me hurt you guys!" Yosuke clamed up then. I decided to follow his example.

"S-Sorry," the two of us said and bowed at the same time. Before we knew it, the other two females present started laughing their heads off.

"I-Is this how normal conversations are with you guys?" Rise asked in between her giggles.

"Yeah, most of the time," Souji answered with a smile.

**

* * *

~10:30PM~**

I was lying in bed, recalling today's events: Teddie coming into this world, becoming human, meeting Naoto, Rise's mood changing and her joining the team. And most importantly...

_She... She said 'I love you'...!_

'_**She said 'I love you GUYS.''**_

_Shut up! Let me enjoy the moment. And when did you develop a weird sense of humor?_

'_**You do realize I've been listening to your conversations, correct? I learned from you and your friends.'**_

_...Damn you._

**

* * *

DONE.**

**Some differences here, as you can tell. And the reason Souji's personality was different during his and Andrew's outing (Aeon Social Link Rank 2) was because he switched to an Aeon Persona (I dunno which, just one that actually _is_ Aeon, even though P4 didn't have Aeon...). I think I remember reading somewhere that the protagonist's perspective changes with each Arcana, so I had him change into a happier version of himself.**

**Okay, bye.**


	13. Eating and Fighting

**Sorry for the late update. I've been suffering from writer's block and overdue school work. The first bits of this chapter were somewhat forced, so don't expect anything perfect :S**

**Anyways, reviews, go!**

**Astrih Konnash:** Don't worry, fighting will happen in this chapter (just not a lot...). And you're right, P3 did have an Aeon Arcana, but each of those Personae are actually in P4, just in a different Arcana. I may have to switch them back to Aeon if I can't find anything new.

**Unknown:** Yeah, I remember the button, too. I still have no clue what it is, but you may be right that it's a fire alarm.

**Jharoz:** You really think Andy's a good OC? I never thought someone actually thought he was anything but adequate. I'm glad how you like how I portray him :) Thank you.

**Windmarkd10:** I'm hoping that what I have planned for the King's Game scene is good, too. I can't wait to do write that!

**Disclaimer: Andrew is mine, Persona 4 is Atlus's. I have no rights over the characters or anything.**

**

* * *

~July 4th~**

**~Monday~**

**~8:15AM~**

* * *

I was walking to the school with a hop in my step and my iPod turned up. I don't know why, but I was happy. It was probably because Rise was going to be in the same school as me - hopefully even in my class.

"Yo, Andrew!" Kanji suddenly came running up behind me. I took out one ear bud to hear him better.

"'Sup, Kanji?" I said as he came up to me. "Ready for another day of school?"

"No way," Kanji said. "I'm always so tried whenever school starts..." He yawned, which made me yawn as well. "Oh yeah, what happened to you guys yesterday?"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Like, after Ted and I went into the shop to get more Topsicles, you guys just vanished on us! We tried looking in the tofu shop, but it was only Rise's grandma running the place."

"Ohhh, we forgot to go get you guys, didn't we?" I chuckled. "When we met up with Rise-chan, she brought us to the shrine near your house. I guess you were too busy checkin' out Teddie to hear us walk by."

"Yeah, prob- Wait, what?"

* * *

After I was almost socked in the face, we chatted about random and trivial things, but when we reached the classroom we got a surprise... In the form of a note on the chalkboard saying that the class will be getting a big surprise today, and that 'everyone will be delighted.'

"...I already know what the surprise is," I said.

"Huh? What is it?" Kanji asked as we sat down in our desks.

I was about to tell him, but a thought crossed my mind. "Okay, let's see if you can get it right," I said with a smug grin. "I'll give you 500 yen if you get guess right."

"Ohh, a bet, huh?" Kanji raised an eyebrow. We shook hands, "You're on!"

"Alrighty, just try and guess."

"Uh... We're gonna have half the day off."

_No where close. _"Nope."

"There's gonna be snacks given out to everyone?"

_He likes those snacks, doesn't he? _"Nuh-uh."

"Um... We're having a free day?"

_Wait, what?_ "What's the difference between that and a day off?"

"A day off means we get to go home."

"Ah, right... Anyway, keep guessing!"

"Argh... Lemme think about this... If it's a 'big' surprise, and everyone's gonna be 'delighted'... I think it might be something pretty popular."

"Mhm, mhm," I nodded, grinning.

He thought for another second, and he smacked his forehead. "Dude, why didn't I realize it earlier! Ris-"

And as soon as he started his answer, the door opened and closed with Ms. Omukay walking up to her desk quickly. We all stopped talking and looked at the teacher expectedly. "Now, everyone," she began, "we're getting another new student in this class. I'm certain you will all recognize her, but I want you know: she asked me to tell you to treat her like you would anyone else. She may be famous, but that doesn't mean she's not like each of you."

"It's Rise," Kanji whispered. "Rise's gonna be part of this class."

I smirked. "Good job, pal. I'll give you the 500 yen whenever I get some for myself."

"What? Aw, man! Seriously?"

"Alright, you can come in!" Ms. Omukay called out the door. It slid open again and in walked that familiar twin tailed redhead. Gasps and screams were heard all through the room, but with a slam on her desk Ms. Omukay silenced them.

"Hi there!" Rise said with a smile. "My name's Rise Kujikawa! I know that I'm a big idol and all, but I want you guys to treat me like normal. Starting today I'm one of you guys, so I hope we all get along." She bowed to the class and stepped back. Immediately the majority of the dudes stood and clapped. One guy even whistled, and I could tell Rise wasn't that pleased with that.

After a quick 'shut up' by the teacher, she scanned the classroom for an empty desk. "Ah, let's see... Rise-chan, you'll be sitting..." She then pointed right in front of me. "Right in front of Andrew."

"...Huh?" I looked at the desk in front of me. "Since when was this desk empty?"

"Dude, it's always been empty," Kanji told me. "Same as the one in front of me."

"Oh..." My face scrunched, "Odd." Rise made her way down the aisle, but as she did every guy that was behind her shot daggers at me. I blinked. _Why are they glaring like that? It's not as if they know Rise-chan knows me..._

"I had a feeling we'd be in the same class," Rise said to me when she reached her desk.

The stares intensified. _Oh, there's a good reason._ "Yeah. I'm... glad that we are."

Her smile brightened and took a seat in her desk while I planted my face into mine.

**

* * *

~12:00AM~**

I survived the stares and glares long enough to make it to lunch. Rise decided to turn her desk around so that she, Kanji and myself could eat together. The moment she did, though, I felt even more eyes piercing me. I glanced over to the door to see a bunch of kids crowding around the window, watching our every move. I groaned and took out my simple lunch of a sandwich.

"Is that all you have?" Rise asked me upon seeing my 'meal.'

"Yeah... I didn't have much time to make a proper lunch for myself," I answered. "Got up too late..."

"Oh," was her reply. "Well, what about you?" she regarded Kanji. "What do you have for lunch?"

"Uh, nothin' special..." he answered. "Just a boxed lunch my ma made."

"Seriously? Wow, she must be a good cook."

"Eh, she's alright..."

Rise chuckled suddenly. "You want to know what _I've_ got...?"

"Uh..." I hesitated. I looked at Kanji, who shrugged, and I said, "Sure, I guess."

She then quickly opened her own boxed lunch to show a wide variety of foodstuffs somehow neatly tucked in it. "Ta-daaa!" she cried. "Onigiri, potato salad, sushi, meat and tofu! All cooked by yours truly!"

"...Huh," Kanji said. "Is it... any good?"

"Why don't you try one for yourself and see?"

"Alright, then." Kanji flipped his chopsticks around and took a piece of meat wit the larger end. He put it in his mouth and his eyes shot open. "D-Dude!" he covered his mouth. "This is way too spicy!"

"Spicy?" I quickly turned to him. "Oh, oh, let me try some!" Realization hit. "Aw, shit, right, I didn't bring chopsticks..."

"Ah, here," Rise said, pulling a spare pair out of her case. "My grandma packed another set for me, just in case I dropped the first one on the floor."

"Oh, how strangely convenient. Thank you." I took the sticks from her and ate a piece of meat for myself. And it was _wonderful_. "Wow, this is amazing...! And it's burning my mouth...!"

Rise grinned, "You like it? I've always loved spicy foods, myself." She looked back at the lunch and said, "You know, I don't think I'll be able to finish all of this... I was a little excited for school and I made too much, plus all you have is that sandwich, so... did you wanna share?"

"A-Are you sure?" I asked, to which Rise cheerfully nodded. "Ah, thanks again!" I picked up an onigiri, specifically because it was something I've never tried before, and was about to take a bite of it when I felt another chill down my spine. My guess was the stares directed at me were increasing ten-fold because an idol was giving me her home-made food.

Rise saw that I had yet to munch on the ball of rice and asked, "Hey, is something wrong?"

"Huh?" I said. _Does she not realize it, or is she ignoring it?_ "You... do know where being stared at, right?"

"We are?" Rise took a quick glance around and saw the other people in the class looking at us. "Huh, would you look at that..." She sighed, "And after I told them to consider me equal."

"Hey," Kanji yelled out. He stood up and looked at everyone. "Whaddaya think you're all lookin' at?" Immediately the others turned their gazes back to their meals, friends, or whatever, and the ones outside the class quickly left, leaving us peace and quiet.

"Oh, nicely done, Kanji!" I reached into my pants pocket and handed him a coin. "Here's that 500 yen I promised you earlier."

"Wha- You little...!" However, he said nothing more, and put the money in his own pocket. Rise just looked between us with a confused look on her face, but suddenly she started giggling.

"What are you laughing about now?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sorry..." she said in between laughs. "It's just... I thought it would take a while to make any friends at my new school."

"Ah, I know what you mean," I said, then sighed. "Too bad the _way_ we all met wasn't the best... The same thing happened to me, too."

"You mean, you just got thrown in all of a sudden?" Rise asked, making sure to keep her voice low.

"Mhm," I nodded. "I was glad that I managed to make a lot of friends within less than a week, but having my... secrets spilled to them was kinda embarrassing..."

"Oh, right, I never heard your darkest secrets yet..." Rise put on a playful smile. "C'mon, you can tell me what they were! You heard all of mine, right?"

"Oh... Uh, well, basically, I was just jealous of my brother... That's all it boils down to..."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really, that's it?"

"Well, it was also pretty much anyone and everyone who has more than what I have..." I put a hand to my forehead. "Geez, I'm just realizing now that I must be a greedy bastard for thinking like that."

"Yeah, you must've been," Kanji said. "When we were fighting your Shadow, all it was going on about how it wanted everything in the world for itself, and how everyone else could just die in a hole."

"S-Seriously?" I looked over to him. "W-Well, didn't you guys once say that Shadows exaggerate stuff? I mean, I don't exactly want every single person to just _die_..."

"They exaggerate, yeah," Kanji said. "They don't lie, though."

"...Oh, I... see... How do you know that, anyway?"

"Our senpai told me. Apparently, everything that the Shadows say are somewhat true, even if they're stretched a bit."

"And none of them bothered to fill me in on any of that?" I groaned. "Sure, I may not be from here, but that doesn't mean they have to leave things out. I'm part of the team, too..."

"I don't think you not being from here's what's doin' it... They probably just keep forgetting."

"Well, it's happening a little too often."

"So anyone who has more than you you hate?" Rise asked. Her fingers were intertwined and she was resting her chin on the back of them. That smile of hers was completely gone, too. "'More,' as in richer? And maybe if they were famous?"

"Uh... Maybe, something like that... I don't really care for fame or anything, but material possessions, probably."

"Hmm. I see."

"Why?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Uh... okay."

And then the rest of lunch was awkward for some reason.

**

* * *

~3:45PM~**

All eight of us were gathered under a picnic bench with a giant parasol-like structure over us. It was hot out, so each of us ordered drinks to help cool us off.

"Ugh, finals are coming up soon..." Chie started off. "It's been a while since I failed any subjects..."

"Yeah," Yosuke said. "If by 'a while' you mean 'all the time.'"

"Sh-Shut up!" Chie yelled. "Like you've ever seen my scores!"

"But Chie always has above-average marks in the subjects she doesn't fail!" Yukiko defended.

"H-Hey!" Chie panicked. "Why'd you tell him? My scores just... uh, vary! Yeah, that's it!"

"Then maybe you should try and study some more," Souji suggested.

"I-I can't," Chie said. "We have to keep focus on the Midnight Channel and see if anyone gets thrown in."

"But, then again," Yukiko said, "if our grades start suddenly dropping, people may get suspicious."

"Well, I can see that happening to Souji and you, Yukiko-san," Yosuke spoke. "But for Chie, not many people will think differently."

"Wha- Are you _trying _to get kicked again?" Chie snarled.

"Ah, no...!"

The two of them started their fighting again, and we all just ignored them. Yukiko turned to Rise and asked, "So, how was your first day of school here?"

"It was okay for the most part," Rise answered. "Though there were a lot of people staring at us..."

"Me specifically, 'cause I actually know you. But thankfully Kanji got rid of 'em." I added with a chuckle.

The big guy turned to us. "They were getting on my nerves, too."

"Hey," Teddie said. "What's this 'school' thing like, anyway?"

"Boring," Yosuke replied, ignoring Chie's continuous yells. "You just gotta sit in the classes and listen. At times there's things to do, but that's pretty much it."

"Ooh," Teddie sounded intrigued. "That sounds like fun! Maybe I could try it out one day..."

"Wait, you think it's _fun_?" Chie asked with wide eyes.

"Trust us," I said. "You don't wanna go to school. You'll just make a fool of yourself."

"Aw, c'mon! I won't, I promise! Please please please please pleeeeeeeease?"

"Do you even know the first thing about school?" Yosuke asked.

"That doesn't matter! Just let me go!"

"No way! Who knows what trouble you'd get in! I'm not letting you go."

"I won't get into trouble, I swear!" Yosuke was still unmoving, and eventually Teddie just gave up with a pout.

I suddenly realized something. "Hey, Ted, where'd you sleep to last night?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, I went back to the other side," Teddie sighed. "No one was able to take me home, so I had no choice but to return there..."

"Well, why didn't you come and ask me? I could let you stay with me."

"...Huh?" The blondie's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, it's not like I have anyone else in the room. And talking to my Persona every night can get tiring."

_**'I heard that.'**_

_I know._

"Are you sure about that? He'll most likely be a major pain in the ass..." Yosuke said.

"How _rude_, Yosuke!" Teddie shouted. "I won't be a bother at all! I'll go to bed on time and I'll only eat what I'm allowed and I'll always wash my hands when I come out of the washroom!"

"Okay, too much information," Chie cringed.

"Well, he's just one guy. What's the worst that can happen?" I replied.

"Oh, thank you so much, Andy!" Then he leaped across the table and tackled me in a big bear hug. Excuse the pun, please.

"Agh! Ted, get off of me!" I tried to push the little guy off, but he wouldn't budge. "Can someone get this guy off me? I can't breathe well..." No one bothered to; they all just laughed.

* * *

After they finally bothered to help me up, we all got around to explaining to Rise what we know about the kidnapper. When that was over, we decided to go to Daidara to find a weapon for her to use.

"Ooh, this one looks useful!" Yukiko held out a little axe, similar to what lumberjacks use.

"Nuh-uh," Rise shook her head. "Too small."

"How about this?" Yosuke asked, lifting up a mace.

"Nope. Too blunt."

"How about chakrams?" Souji asked, lifting up a red and white one that strangely seemed like what a red-spiky-haired pyromaniac would use.

"No, they don't look easy to use."

"Then what do you _want_ to use, then?" I asked. "There's not much else here that's not being used already..."

"What're you talking about?" Chie asked. "There's tons of things here not being used. Like this bow and arrow, or this rapier, or spear, or-"

"Okay okay, I get it."

Rise looked around at everything in the store, and she walked up to an umbrella-holder of sorts. "I want... this one," she said, pointing at it.

"A... scythe?" Kanji asked. "Isn't that a little too... big for you?"

"Oh, no, I think it may be because it _is_ too big for her." Souji said. We all looked at him. "She'd probably use that to compensate for her height or reach."

"Are you calling me short?" Rise raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled. "I may be."

"...Yeah, I guess that's one of the reasons why I want it."

"What's the other one?" I asked.

"Well, uh... I just want to seem intimidating, I guess. See if I can scare the Shadows away. I'm betting they'd want to go after a cute girl like me, anyway."

"I don't think they'd just run away," Yosuke said. "Those things are pretty persistent. They won't stop until we're all dead."

Rise blinked and groaned, and looked back at the scythe. It was about the same size of her, with a simple curved blade. It was colored black with two red lines going down the pole. "I think I'll take it anyways."

"Alright, then," Daidara said, apparently listening to us. "Thirty thousand yen for the scythe."

"Thir-" My jaw dropped. "Geez, what do you do with all that money?"

"What I do with it isn't your concern," the man said with a glare.

Must remember to _**NEVER**_ piss that guy off.

* * *

It wasn't until we left the metalworks that we hit a snag in our plan.

"How will we sneak the scythe into Junes?" Souji asked. "And what about the next times we have to go in?"

Everyone stopped their walking and thought.

"It is rather large..." Yukiko said. "Too many people may see it."

"I could, uh... just leave it in the other world if it becomes too much of a hassle..." Rise said. "But as for getting it in there..."

"Why don't we all just huddle closely together so that no one can see it?" Yosuke suggested.

"Nah, we'd look too suspicious," I said. "Maybe someone should hide it in their clothes, like you do, Souji-senpai."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Souji replied. "People will still see the blade sticking out of the bottom of a pair of pants."

"I mean the other way."

"It'd still poke out of their shirt."

"Oh... right."

"How about Yosuke says over the intercom that there's a sale somewhere away from the TV department?" Chie asked.

"Dude, I'd get fired for doing that," Yosuke sighed.

"Well, get one of us to do it," I said.

"There're security cameras all around," Yosuke said. "You'll be caught in a flash."

"Damn..." I sighed. "If they catch us with this thing, we'll be arrested on the spot."

We were all silent for a moment, trying to think of what to do. Kanji suddenly shot his head up. "I got it! Someone has to go in there and make a racket, then everyone in the store will either go watch or run away! No one will see the scythe if they're too busy at something else."

"...That may work if that person's quick enough," Souji thought aloud.

"Huh?" Chie turned to him. "You're actually going with that? I-Isn't that a little risky?"

"Well what else can we do?" I asked. "It's not like we can just stick it in another TV and look for it in the other world..."

"Alright, who'll go?" Yosuke asked.

"I nominate Kanji 'cause he's the one who thought of it," Rise said, pointing to the big guy.

"Wha-!"

"Ooh, good idea, Rise-chan!" Teddie agreed. "Have fun getting caught, Kanji!"

"B-But, guys!"

"You do look like someone who'd cause a disturbance like that," Yukiko said amusingly.

"Aw, c'mon!"

"Alright, we'll leave it to you," Yosuke nodded. "Let's all go back to our homes and get our own weapons, then meet at the back of Junes in half an hour."

"Right." "Sure." "Roger!" "Understood." "Gottcha." "Righty-o!" "...Fine." everyone said.

* * *

Because he had nowhere else to go to, Teddie decided to follow Yukiko and I back to the inn.

"So, there are open air hot springs here?" Teddie asked excitedly.

"Straight to the point, huh?" I asked with a smile. "Yeah there are, but I haven't been in them yet."

"You should," Yukiko said. "It's a great way to relax if you're feeling stressed."

"I will one of these days, if I'm feeling particularly down."

"Well, _I'll_ try them out tonight!" Teddie cried. "I can't wait to feel its warm waters revitalize my skin!"

"Is that really the reason?" I asked, eyeing him.

"Yeah, obviously!"

"You... _do_ realize that men and women go in separately, right?" Yukiko asked.

Teddie just stared. "...W-What?"

* * *

Kanji's plan actually worked. Everyone either ran away in fear or just went up to him and watch. He had started knocking stuff down and started yelling random things. Thankfully, he had a hoodie on, so no one saw his face, and he was able to dodge the security quickly enough to get into the TV without being seen. While all that was happening, the rest of us went through a back entrance that Yosuke opened.

"I am... _never_... doing that again..." Kanji panted, removing the hoodie and throwing it down.

"Aw, c'mon!" Chie cried. "That was awesome what you did!"

"Yeah, it was," I added. "If Rise-chan decides to bring the scythe out today, we'll get you to do that again!" Kanji only grunted at this.

"So, where to, guys?" Teddie asked, now back into his bear costume. "If you want, we can go away from the paths and see what else is here!"

"We could do that," Souji said, and turned to Rise. "But we still need to get Rise-chan warmed up before we can tackle anything too big."

"Don't worry, senpai," Rise said. "I'll be careful. Besides..." She turned and looked at me. "I was promised that I'll be kept safe. Right?"

_Wait, what...? She remembered that?_ "Uh, y-yeah! Of course," I said, smiling. She smiled back, but we both quickly blushed again and turned away.

"Now, if these two lovebirds can stop staring at each other," Chie said with a chuckle, "we'll be going now."

"Ah, right." Rise quickly regained her composure and followed after our senpai. She looked back and called out to me, "C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

We wound up back at Rise's club, but the owner of it was none too pleased. "Wait, we're _here_ again?" she asked, shocked. "Why here of all places?"

"Because we need to train," Souji replied. "This is the best place to do it."

"But why not away from these places, like Teddie said?" Rise asked. "I don't really want to be here..."

"Hey, we all had to do it at one point," Kanji said. "So just suck it up and let's go."

"Alright, so because of the two Shadows we had to fight last time..." Souji said. He looked us all over and said, "Rise-chan, Yukiko-chan and Chie-chan. You're all with me."

"..._What!_" was the collective response (actually just mine and Yosuke's, Kanji didn't seem to care).

"Well, you all fought with me last," Souji said. "So don't you think it's fair that the girls go now?"

"Bu-" I started to say, but I stopped myself. "Actually, yeah, that does sound fair."

"Huh?" Yosuke turned to me, shocked. "You're siding with him?"

"Well, yeah," I answered. "It _is_ fair 'n all. Us guys fought Teddie's Shadow, so now it's the girls' turn to go into battle."

Yosuke tried to come up with something to counter that, but nothing seemed to work. He finally gave in and sighed. "Fine, whatever."

"Alright, so if we're all good to go," Souji said, and started walking towards the door. We all followed after him, and I walked up to Rise.

"You sure you can fight?" I asked her. "This isn't a game you know. You can actually get hurt here."

"Yeah, I know that," she said, turning to me and giggling. "You worry too much, y'know?"

"Ah... You think so...?"

"Mhm," she nodded and looked back at the path. "I'll be fine, so don't worry. Our senpai'll be watching my back."

"Oh, yeah. That's true." I looked back at her weapon, which was carelessly slung over her shoulder. "And you're sure that you're able to use that scythe good?"

"I don't know for sure yet, but I'll find out soon. It can't be _that_ hard, can it?" I was about to reply, but Souji called out that there was a Shadow up ahead. Rise turned to me and smiled. "I'll be okay, trust me!" She ran ahead with Souji and the other girls to battle the Shadow.

Yosuke sighed. "Well then." He looked at Kanji, then me, then Teddie, who I just noticed was slightly up ahead of us using Kintoki-Douji to give out information for the team. "Now what do we do?"

"We... just talk, or something?" Kanji offered.

"I think I'm just gonna watch them fight," I said.

"Okay, suit yourself," Yosuke replied.

Right now, the others were facing down two more of those DNA-like things. Like I had thought, Souji had went with Yukiko while Chie was watching over Rise. My classmate was holding her scythe so that the end of the pole was facing up and the blade was near the ground. She suddenly went for an attack, where she brought the blade above her and made it fall onto the enemy. She then brought it back up and swung it horizontally, making the thing fly to her left. Chie then rushed it with a quick kick to the face, and summoned Tomoe to slash it with her naginata. The DNA enemy was defeated in no time, the same for the others. I sighed in relief when there were no battle scars to be shown.

"We should move to the higher floors," Souji yelled so we could all hear. "The ones down here are pretty weak."

"Then let's get going!" Rise cheered, slightly out of breath. The rest of us men caught up with them, and we set out to find this place's staircase. When we all fell into line, Rise walked up next to me. "I told you I'd be fine!"

"Yeah, you sure showed me," I said, half smiling. "But don't forget: they were one of the easier ones to fight. There's gonna be tougher ones up ahead."

Rise sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know..."

We found the staircase rather quickly, actually, and it wasn't long until we made it to the third floor. There was a floating Shadow just up ahead, and Rise called out that she had that one. She rushed over to it and brought her scythe onto the blob, effectively forcing it onto the ground. The sludge then took shape of two giant birds, which quickly flew back to the skies (or ceiling, since we were inside a building). Rise stared at them for a second, but lowered her head. Her Persona card suddenly floated in front of her, and with a quick, one-handed swipe from her scythe, Himiko appeared. The Persona twirled her rapier, which caused an icicle to actually fly from the floor and impale one of the birds in the gut.

"What the-" I said. "Can Bufulas shoot out of the ground like that?"

"I don't know," Yosuke answered. "I don't have any ice skills, ask Chie."

"Rise-chan, be careful!" Teddie cried out. "You Garu skills won't work on those birds!"

"Ah, okay!" Rise called back. "Thanks!" Rise glanced back at the enemies to see one of them flying down to her. I gasped, but then both of them got blasted by a Maragion, courtesy of Yukiko. Rise thanked her, and the group initiated an All-Out Attack at the birds. The clouds picked up again, and when they vanished the birds were gone. Rise seemed to be even more out of breath from before.

"Good job, Rise-chan!" Chie said, walking up to the girl. It was then that she saw her panting. "Hey, are you okay? You look beat..."

"I'm... just fine, senpai," Rise said, doing her best to hide her fatigue. "C'mon, let's get going..."

I could tell everyone was concerned for her, but we chose to press onwards. Once we hit the fifth floor, Souji swapped Yukiko and Chie for Kanji and Yosuke. I was fine with that, considering I fought both Rise's and Teddie's Shadows with Souji, while the other two guys fought only Teddie's.

Another Shadow blob was found not too far ahead, so Yosuke decided to throw one of his own knives at the thing. It broke out into four different hands, each one going after one of the fighting team.

"Hey, I don't think I've been told, yet," I said. "But why does the main fighting team only have four people in it? Wouldn't it be more effective to have everyone fighting?"

"I thought that, too," Chie answered. "But Souji-kun thinks it'd be better to have some people not in battle so we'd be able to get them back up if the main party gets knocked out."

"Then wouldn't one person on the sidelines be enough? Why does there have to be three people just watching?"

"Don't forget, Souji-kun's the leader," Yukiko answered. "He gives us commands when he wants, and if there're too many people fighting, he'd have to watch out for all of them."

"Ohhhh... Okay, I get what you mean. He'd get too confused and disoriented if he'd have to watch out for us _and_ himself..."

The fighters finished up quickly, but Rise was even more out of breath. She insisted she was fine, so we carried on and went straight up through the next few floors. When we finally reached the top floor, we decided to call it a day. We were about to make the long trek back down when Rise announced that she had a skill to bring us to the entrance of the club instantly. She used it and _poof,_ we were back at the room with the tables and seats.

"Wow..." Yosuke said in awe. "At least we won't have to waste our Traesto Gems now."

"What's the point of even having them around when we could just get Rise-chan to bring us back down here?" Chie asked.

"Yeah, that'd come in handy," I said. I turned to Rise to ask her how she was, but the girl was already sitting on the floor, gasping for breath. I rushed over to her and asked, "Ah, are you okay?"

"Ye... yeah..." She panted. "I'm just... a little tired..."

"C'mon," Souji said. "Let's get you back so you can rest."

"But, what about her weapon?" Yukiko asked, glancing at it. "I don't think it's a good idea for her to take it back."

Souji thought for a second and turned to Teddie. "The Shadows here won't come after it if we leave it here, will it?"

"Nope!" Teddie said. "They can only tell where people with Personas are. They don't even notice your weapons when you fight them."

"Alright," Souji turned to Rise and picked up her scythe. "I'll carry this back to the entrance for you. Andrew, carry her, would you? She looks like she can't walk."

"Wha- Wait, why me?" I asked. "I-I mean I don't mind, but why get _me_ out of all of us to do it...?"

"I heard you mention earlier that you needed to pick up groceries tonight," Souji said. "The store's right next to Marukyu, so you can take her home."

"Huh? D... Did I mention I have to get food...?"

Everyone started leaving. "Well, you got a reason to take her home now!" Yosuke laughed, and then followed the others. I just stood there, both me and Rise staring after them. I looked down at her, sighed, and helped her stand.

"I'm fine, really," Rise said, now just a _little_ out of breath. "I don't need help getting to the entrance."

"Alright," I said and started walking. "C'mon, we're gonna be left behind."

"R-Right."

* * *

Souji laid the scythe against the entrance's railing, making sure it would stay there, and one by one we all slipped into the TVs. When we got outside the store again, we were about to go our separate ways before Yosuke asked something.

"Hey, Kanji, what'd you do with my hoodie from before?"

"Huh? Oh, I just laid it down on the floor back in the other side."

He groaned. "Damn, I can't believe I missed it. Ah well, I'll have to get it tomorrow. It's too late to go back in there now."

After that, we all said our farewells, but it was then that I remembered that I actually _did_ have to get groceries, plus another futon for Teddie. There was a convenience store in the shopping district, as well as a futon shop farther up, so the now-human-again bear and I accompanied Rise and Kanji back to their houses.

"Are you even sure the shops are open this late?" Kanji asked.

"Well, if they aren't, Teddie's sleeping on the floor," I answered. The blondie looked at me with a shocked expression, but I told him that I'd get someone to send up some spare blankets. I looked back at Kanji and noticed that there was no more red hair separating us anymore. I turned around to see Rise walking at a much slower rate. Her head was to the ground and she didn't even notice the gap between us. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?" I called back to her with worry on my face.

She glanced up at us and noticed how far ahead we were. "Ah... S-Sorry..." She quickened her pace and was walking between Kanji and I once again.

"Anyways..." Kanji sighed. "We had something to do for homework, didn't we?"

"W... What?" I asked. "What was it?"

"Oh, yeah..." Rise said. "Wasn't it something for literary class? We had to write a short story on something...?"

"Oh... Right, right, I remember," I said. "We have to write a story involving something exciting that happened so far this year."

"Well, I can name one thing right of the bat," Kanji said.

"The TV world?" I asked.

"Heh, you got it."

"But we shouldn't write about _that_. Something that actually makes sense and wouldn't turn us into laughing stocks would be wise."

"Yeeeeah. You're, uh... You're right."

"How about you guys write how you met Teddie?" the bear asked.

"But you're from the other side," I answered. "That'd still make it unacceptable."

The bear groaned, but quickly thought of something. "How about Rise-chan? Isn't she supposed to be famous? You could right about how you met her!"

"Hmmm... Well, the reason we approached her in the first place _was_ because of the other world... But, then again, I already made up the excuse that we just started casually talking... What do you think, Rise...-chan?" She was walking even farther behind us than before, and she was breathing heavily. I stopped this time and turned around. "Okay, are you _positive_ you're alright?"

Her head shot up again and looked at me. "W-What?"

I sighed and said. "You're falling behind again. Is there something wrong?"

"No," she shook her head. "I guess... I'm just tired is all."

"Well, at least you can walk, right?" I looked down at her legs (which were very nice and attractive, if I may add). They were wobbling with every step she took and threatened to buckle underneath her weight. "...Wow, how much energy did you put into fighting today?"

"She was in the fighting party the whole time, right?" Kanji asked. "It's no wonder she's tired, today was her first day."

"Ah, that's true..." I looked back at her, "Hey, um... D-Do you need help getting home...? We're still a nice ways away from the district..."

Rise hesitated a bit and thought it over, but she looked up and said, "A... Alright..." Just like a week or so ago, I slung her arm over my shoulder and carefully put my arm around her waist. Ted's whistle didn't help the situation, but it thankfully made Rise smile again.

_And for some reason, that smile can make me smile._ I thought with a smile.

* * *

We got Rise home without any hassle, but there was a kind of awkward air around us. When Rise was gone, Kanji, Teddie and I went farther up the shopping district. Surprisingly, Shiroku store was opened, so I bought more things than I normally would for the coming week. With that in our arms, we said good bye to Kanji as we went on a different path to the futon store.

It, unfortunately, was closed, so we made our way back to the Amagi Inn. We just chatted about things: Teddie was wondering about the different kinds of things in this world, and so I told him about the things I was able to identify. When we got back to the inn, I requested three or four blankets for my room.

"So, _this_ is your room, huh?" Teddie said as we walked in.

"Yep, my home away from home," I answered. "Oh, right, you didn't come up to my room when we came here earlier... Where'd you go?"

"I checked out the hot springs, to see what they were like!"

"Oh, I s- Wait, wasn't it the women's turn to be in the hot springs?"

"Yep! Boy, did _they_ get a surprise!"

"...You gotta be kidding me..."

Surprisingly, Yukiko was the one to bring us the blankets and an extra pillow. I kept quiet about there being a bear in the hot springs earlier, and my senpai bid us a good night and left. I set up the blankets and whatnot on the other side of the room, and the two of us fell into slumber.

**

* * *

Hmm... I'm a bit iffy on this chapter. I'll leave it to you guys to determine if it's good or not (so you better review, dammit).**

**Little tidbits you may find interesting:**

**-Try and guess who will fill the empty seat in front of Kanji? :D**

**-Rise holds her scythe like how P3P's FemShe (Hamuko) holds her naginata (no reason for that).**

**-The weapons Chie listed were what Yukari, Mitsuru and Ken used in P3.**

**Okay that's all I can remember. So good-bye.**


	14. Not a Date

**RAWR I'M A MONSTER!**

**Actually I'm not. But you might have known that beforehand. Anywho's, reviews!**

**Casey W: **I realize that it was filler-y, but there's not much going on in the game after Rise recovers, except exams and stuff. And that's also the reason why this one's also a bit filler-y. Don't worry, though, the next chapter will _not_ be filler because of you-know-who appearing on the Midnight Channel.

**Jharoz:** Character development may be a tad bit tricky, but I think I'll be able to change some things. As for P3, I'll have to say Shinjiro because he's badass. Either him or Koromaru, because when I first saw those wings I was like "OMG THAT IS ADORABLE." And oh shit I screwed up with the time :c You got a good eye there.

**Unknown:** You didn't think it was bad? Well that's good to hear. Hopefully this one will be the same.

**Windmarkd10:** Haha no, he won't be paranoid. He's just gonna have to keep a watchful eye on the bear.

**Wow, that's a lot more than I was expecting. Thanks everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I totally, like, don't own any of the characters! They all belong to, like, Atlus. Except Andrew Ricketts, he's, like, mine. (There's also, like, a character whom neither I nor Atlus owns. But saying who does own [it] may give the secret away. Hmmmmm)**

**

* * *

~June 10th~**

**~2:00AM~**

* * *

A lone sports bag sat on the roof of the school. I couldn't tell what was in it, but feeling the tension in the air, I guessed that whatever it was wasn't nice. I heard the sound of a door opening, and looked behind myself to see Chie cautiously walk out. She tucked her hands in her coat pocket, as if gripping something. She didn't even notice me, and walked right on by and up to the bag. She was about to open it when a voice rang out.

"Tell me..." Chie quickly turned around in fright. "Did you ever go to the hospital?" Right behind her was Yukiko, with a dark look on her face and a hand behind her back. "The doctors there work wonders."

Chie tensed up and clenched her fists. "I didn't."

"And why is that?" Yukiko's voice was monotonous, and her eyes were completely blank.

"Because I'd never go to any hospital that _you'd_ recommend!" Chie shouted at her.

"Or maybe..." Yukiko started. Her head shot up to look Chie in the eye. "It's because you lied?" The brown haired girl gasped. "All you had to do was tell him you were having his baby... then stealing him from me would be a breeze."

"Screw you!" Chie shouted, very much angry and afraid.

_Wh... What are they talking about? Who's baby? And since when do these two argue?_

"So... _I'm_ the liar?" Yukiko asked, glaring at her.

Chie put a hand over her gut. "I really am pregnant!"

_Wait, what? When did... Who...HUH?_

"Then why hesitate on getting a pregnancy test done?" She questioned immediately. Chie clenched her bandaged fist, but said nothing. "I mean, there's no way _you_ could've given birth to his baby, right Chie? Isn't it obvious? Souji-kun was never yours to begin with."

_What? When did this happen?_ I tried to say something, to try and get their attention, but nothing I did seemed to work.

"Isn't that right?" Yukiko asked with a small smile.

"I-It's not fair... I wanted to be Souji-kun's girlfriend, too, you know?" Chie began to cry. "I was in love! Why else would I let him do whatever the hell he wanted to me? But it all ended up being for nothing!"

Yukiko paused and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is that so... I'm sure Souji-kun will understand, then. He's waiting right over there." Yukiko pointed back at the bag. Chie stared at it, then hesitantly walked over and slowly unzipped it. Taking a look inside, her eyes shot open. She stepped back, screaming all the while, and fell to the floor and hurled. I took a quick glance in the bag and-

_HOLY SHIT THAT'S SENPAI'S HEAD._

"Do you mind if I... have a look?" Yukiko asked. She took her hand out from behind her back and removed bandages from a sword - Souji's sword, in fact. The blade was completely covered in blood, which looked a bit fresh. She must've done what I think she done just recently. "I'd really love to see... that baby of yours."

The black haired girl then charged for her friend, who gasped and quickly took out a knife from her pocket. She was about to try and block, but Yukiko quickly slapped it away from her hand. The knife clanged on the floor, and Yukiko's empty eyes suddenly became angry while Chie's were completely filled with terror. Yukiko brought the sword up and actually _sliced_ through Chie's neck. The sickening sound of her skin tearing made my own skin crawl.

The brown haired girl just stood there before her eyes rolled up into her sockets and fell down to the ground.

Yukiko stared down at her friend's body, not fazed at all by her actions. She then bent down and, using the sword, actually ripped a hole in Chie's stomach. I tried to look away, but some unholy force kept my eyes glued to the scene. The noise of flesh ripping and the sight of blood filling the floor made me want to hurl for myself.

Yukiko then stood up and examined her work. She was covered in Chie's blood, some of it dripping off of her hands. She stared into the gap she made. "Just as I thought," she said. "Looks like you _were_ lying after all. There's nobody inside you."

* * *

It was then that my body finally decided to wake up.

"GAHH!" I threw myself into a sitting position and panted. _Wh-What the hell did I just dream!_ I could feel the sweat dripping off of my body, and the futon covers had been thrown all about.

I covered my eyes from the bright light pouring in from the window. I glanced at the clock and read the time: 10:32 AM. I sighed and turned my view to my roommate, who hadn't stirred from his sleep yet.

"You'd think he'd be hibernating after sleeping through that scream..." I processed my words and laughed at the joke. "I'll have to try and get that in one of our conversations some time." I got up and started eating breakfast while watching some TV.

My cell suddenly rang. I picked it up and checked the caller ID.

"...Rise-chan? Why's she calling so early?" I pressed the talk button. "Hello?"

"A-Andrew-kun!" Rise cried from the other end. She seemed distressed.

"W-What? What's wrong?"

"I was just talking with Chie-senpai. According to her... the police found another dead body!"

...

...

"Wait, _WHAT?_"

"Yeah, I know! It was hanging from a rooftop this morning, like, just down the street! I don't know any more details, but we're all meeting up at Junes now! Wake Ted up and meet us there."

"R-Right! See you there." I quickly hung the phone up and nudged the bear to rouse him from his sleep.

"N-No, Chie-chan... Not _there_..."

"Oh, God, what."

I quickly looked around the room and ran over to the TV stand. I pulled open a draw and retrieved the rather-large-for-an-inn phone book.

_THUNK_

"AHH!" Teddie jerked up from his own futon and covered his nose with his hands. "Owww, Andy what was that for?" he shouted. "My nose hurts beary much now..."

"No time for bad bear puns!" I yelled. "Rise-chan just called. Apparently the police found another d... dead body."

"..._WHAT?_" Teddie screamed, his eyes wide.

"I know! Now c'mon, get up. We're all meeting at Junes now."

* * *

Everyone minus Yosuke was seated at the circular table. No one said a word; the only time someone spoke was to greet whoever was next to arrive. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, wondering who the newest victim was.

Eventually Yosuke ran up to us, and the look on his face confirmed everyone's fears. "Yeah, it was murder all right," he panted. "The body was hanging upside down on an apartment's rooftop railing..."

"But..." Yukiko whispered. "How could that...?"

"That's not all," Yosuke continued. "The victim this time... It was King Moron!"

_W-Wha...?_

"K-King Moron...?" Chie gasped.

"Um... Who?" Rise asked, although she was just as afraid as the rest of us.

"Our homeroom teacher," Souji answered quietly. Rise simply gasped, but said nothing.

"Why...?" I whispered. "Why did this have to happen?"

"How are we supposed to know?" Yosuke answered. "I talked to a guy there who saw it! It's true... There's no mistake."

"Gotta be shitting me..." Kanji cursed. "Ain't the killer targeting people who get shown on TV? I ain't never seen King Moron on the Midnight Channel, or any other programs!"

"Same here, and Andy and I are glued to the TV!" Teddie added as I glared at him.

"I thought we finally figured some things out..." Chie sighed. "Were they all just a big coincidence...?"

"Maybe the Midnight Channel doesn't have anything to do with this..." Yukiko said.

"Dammit!" Yosuke shouted and slammed a fist onto the desk. "We came so far, and now we're back to square one! Were we in over our heads, trying to catch a culprit even the police couldn't find...?"

"No..." Souji said, shaking his head. We all looked at him. "No. It's too early to give up now. We can still do this."

"S-Senpai's right," Rise said. "We can't give up now. We have to figure this thing out, too."

"Damn straight!" Kanji yelled. "We started this thing 'cause the police can't tell their asses from their elbows. We give up now, and that shithead's gonna be on the loose forever. This ain't the time for bitching and moaning... We just gotta keep on keepin' on."

I was about to call him out on his redundancy, but given the circumstances, I chose not to.

"Hmph... Big talk from someone like you, Kanji," Yosuke smirked.

"Wha...?" I looked at my senpai with a raised eyebrow. "Is now really time for jokes and insults?"

Yosuke paused and sighed. "I know... We're dealing with a murderer here. But we've all risked out lives to get this far... No way we'll back down."

"You got that right!" Teddie shouted, a pumped look on his face.

"Oh, that's right." Souji looked at Teddie. "We'd promised to help you find the culprit, didn't we?"

_Did we? I don't remember ever saying that..._

Rise's eyes shot open. "Teddie! When was the last time you were on the other side?"

"Huh? Um..." The bear put a hand to his chin. "I think the last time I was over there was... when we all went over. When was that again?"

"Last Monday?" I guessed.

"Yeah, I think that's it."

"Oh... Well, that won't help," Rise sighed.

"Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I was just thinking, maybe you might've sensed someone over there if you had gone over. But now that I know you haven't actually been over there, well..." Rise trailed off and glanced away.

"We _could_ just go in and give it a try..." Yosuke muttered. "I mean, what's the harm in having a look around over there? Plus, I still haven't went in for that hoodie yet..."

"Okay, then, let's go in," Souji nodded. "Just to see if there's anything there."

Everyone nodded and, making sure the coast was clear, we all made our way into the TV. Rise's scythe was right where my senpai left it, but, strangely, Yosuke's hoodie was nowhere to be found.

"What the-!" Yosuke looked around the platform in panic, looking for his hoodie. "W-Where is it? Kanji, you said you just left it here!"

"I did!" the big guy yelled. "I laid it right there," he pointed to a spot on the ground, "after I made that ruckus in the store!"

"Teddie, did you come in and take it?" Yukiko asked the bear.

"No, I already told you," Teddie said, back into his bear costume (where did he keep that thing, anyways?). "I haven't been in here since you guys came in training that one time."

"Well... maybe a Shadow accidentally kicked it down?" Chie asked, looking over the edge. "It's a pretty long way down. I doubt we'll be seeing it any time soon."

"What!" Yosuke shrieked. "That hoodie cost ten thousand yen! And now you're saying it's gone?" Yosuke screamed and pulled on his hair.

"Ignoring him for now..." I said. "Can you find anyone in here, Ted?"

"I'll try my best!" Teddie stepped away from us to get more room and summoned Kintoki-Douji. The rope the helmet was dangling from suddenly straightened, and it fit perfectly on the bear's round head. The satellite on the top of the weapon started beeping and spinning around. "Hmm... Rrr... Ahh..." Teddie's eyes tightened together and he concentrated as much as he could. After a few more moments, he finally gave up. "Haaa... Sorry... I can't sense anyone besides you guys." His Persona disappeared in another bright flash.

"Well, that's to be expected..." Souji sighed. "Now that the victim's already dead, there wouldn't be anything in here at all. Besides the Shadows, of course." No one said anything to that. "...Let's just go back, now that we've found nothing."

* * *

"Well..." Chie sighed when we sat back down to the table. "Now what? We don't know _how_ he was killed, or even _why_... I'm not sure what we should do now..."

"There's not much we _can_ do, now," Souji replied. "I think the only thing we can do now is to just wait."

"Wait?" Yukiko asked. "As in, wait and see what happens?"

"Right. Let's split up for the day and just wait this out."

We all reluctantly agreed and left Junes, and I was about to go back to the inn when I noticed Rise walking back to the district by herself. She had a blank expression on her face, and I could tell she was busy thinking, most likely of what just happened.

"I think..." I said to Teddie and Yukiko, "I'll go back to the inn later on."

"Huh?" Yukiko asked. "Where're you going?"

"...Out," was my answer, and I walked swiftly over to Rise.

"Andrew-kun?" she said as I reached her. "What is it?"

"Um... I know what just happened isn't something to be taken lightly... But," I looked at her, "d-did you want to hang out... or something...?"

Rise blinked and paused for a moment, probably thinking it over. She then smiled a bit and said, "Sure. If you want to." I grinned and internally pumped a fist in the air. "So, what'd you want to do?"

"Uh..." _Oh, crap, I never thought this far._ Suddenly, miraculously, and almost as if it had known I needed help, my stomach growled. "Oh, ah... You hungry?"

"Yeah, actually," Rise nodded. "I know this place in the district called Souzai Daigaku, and the food they serve there is amazing."

"Ohh, I heard about that place... Souji-senpai told me about it before. They have really good meat there, don't they?"

"Yep!" Rise smiled brightly. "C'mon, I'm getting hungrier by the minute!" She then ran off down the road while I attempted to keep pace with her.

* * *

Surprisingly, Souzai Daigaku was right next to Aiya. _They must have some pretty big competition here... Hey, wait, are those crates for sitting on?_

"So, what did you want to have?" Rise asked as we walked up to the register.

"What's the best they got here?" I asked, ignoring the crates and looking over the menu.

"I think maybe their meat sticks," Rise answered. "But if you want, you can get their super spicy meal."

"Please." My mouth was already watering.

* * *

"Whew!" I sighed, steam pouring from my mouth. "That really _was_ super spicy..."

"I can't eat another bite..." Rise said, rubbing her belly. "My stomach's so full..."

"Man, this place serves good food. I can't choose between Aiya's and this place's."

"I know. I'd have to say that they both taste good." Rise looked up at the sign reading Souzai Daigaku. "You know, I've been wanting to come here for some time, now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really want to show up alone. It'd be embarrassing to just come here by myself."

"Well, why didn't you order take out?"

"What? Take out?" Rise looked at me, her eyebrow raised as if I were insane. "How little you know, Andrew-kun! The atmosphere is one of, if not the, most important things! The meal itself isn't everything, you know."

"You sound like you know everything about restaurants," I said with a smirk.

"Not _everything_, but I've been to a lot of different places. Since I've been to a lot of cities because of my previous status as an idol, I liked to try out pretty much every restaurant I saw."

"Seriously?" I asked, my eyes wide. "And even though that must've been a lot of places, you still got such a slim figure."

Rise blushed slightly. "U-Um, yeah. I have high metabolism, so I burn off the extra fat quickly. I have to look my best for everyone, you know."

"Oh, you have high metabolism, too?" I asked, and patted my stomach. "The same thing's with me. I can just laze around for a week or so and nothing happens to me!"

"Honestly?" Rise frowned. "I still have to diet just a _bit_, but you're lucky to be able to get skinnier by, like, doing nothing."

"Ah, no, I worked out a small bit, too," I smiled sheepishly. "But it was mostly when I was bored or something. And not to mention all that training we'll be doing in the TV world."

"Oh... yeah, that's right..." Rise's face suddenly darkened. _Shit, I reminded her about Morooka._

"S-So, um...!" I tried to think of something to talk about. "W-What was your most favorite place to go to?"

She blinked. "...Huh?"

"Like, when you used to travel around 'n stuff. Your favorite restaurant out of all the one's you've been to."

"Oh!" Rise thought for a second. "I think maybe a place called Hagakure. It's in this city on the coast, not too far away from here, called Tatsumi Port Island."

"'Tatsumi'?" I blinked. "You mean, like Kanji's name?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but paused. "Ohh... You know, I never realized that." She started laughing a bit, and I did so as well. "What about your favorite place to eat?"

"Hmm... That's a tough one. It all depends on what I _want_ to eat, whether it's fast food or like a typical restaurant."

"Okay then, fast food."

"Um... McDonald's. I know they're really fatty and whatnot, but I just can't get enough of their burgers and stuff."

"Oh, there was something similar to that place in Port Island," Rise tried to think. "Wuck, or something. I think."

"Was it any good?"

"A little _too_ fatty for me, though it did taste okay."

"If I ever go out there, I may want to try that. Or that Hakagure place you mentioned."

"Ha_ga_kure."

"Oh. Right." I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. Rise giggled and let out a happy sigh.

"To tell you the truth, I've wanted to do this since I was a child."

"You mean, eat at a restaurant with a friend?"

"Well, yeah," Rise smiled and nodded, but then frowned and lowered her head. "I... actually didn't have that many friends. Though I guess that couldn't be helped, since I hardly showed up for school."

"I see... You know, I didn't have _that_ many friends back home, either... Probably because of that whole jealousy thing kicking in." I sighed. "I mean, I played with them on Xbox, 'n everything, but they still had more than-" I shook my head. "No, no more of that. I'm ruining the mood." I looked at her. "Let's talk about something else. I don't want to waste anymore time being all depressed."

"Yeah, same here." Rise smiled naturally, and changed the subject faster than I would've expected. "I'm glad I came back here to Inaba."

"And why's that?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to meet you."

"H-Huh?" Now it was my turn to blush.

Rise laughed again. "I'm serious! I mean, yeah, I'm glad I met Souji-senpai and the others, too, but..." And she suddenly turned red once again. "Ah... I-It's just... I'm glad I met you... too..."

The two of us just sat at that one table, red all over our faces. We looked at each other, saw each other's rosy-red cheeks, and suddenly started to laugh. I don't know why, but we just did.

"So, there you two are."

We ceased our snickers and turned to the street to see Kanji walk up to us. "Ah, Kanji," I greeted. "Where'd you go off to?"

"Just for a walk," he sighed. "All that stuff about the murders was gettin' to me, so I had to go to get my mind off of it."

"Oh..." I sighed. "I forgot about that."

"Let's... just try to forget about that for now," Rise said. "Let's not try to ruin our only day off."

"Y-Yeah, you're right," I nodded in agreement. "So, then! Now what do we do?"

"Hmm... It's only quarter after one..." Rise said, checking her phone. "Did you guys want to go to Okina city for a few hours?"

"Sure, I guess," Kanji said. "Got nothing better to do, anyway."

"Same," I said. "If I go back to the inn, Ted's gonna be bothering me for the rest of the day, anyways."

"Alright, then!" Rise jumped up from her seat (why are they even crates, anyway?) and spun around. "Let's get going!"

* * *

The three of us walked down the steps of the Okina city plaza. Rise stretched her arms and cracked her neck when we hit the ground. "Whew! That was a long trip..."

"Didn't seem long to me..." Kanji said.

"You probably weren't as excited as me, then," Rise said with a smile. "Don't you find that things you can't wait for come so slowly?"

"Aw, I know what you mean..." I said. "A lot of things are like that for me, like Christmas, and my birthday, and-"

"See? Exactly!"

"So, uh... What're we doing _here_?" Kanji asked, looking around. "I mean, why all the way out to Okina...?"

"I wanted to get some summer clothes, and I just thought it might be nice if we _all_ went out here," Rise answered.

"Hmm..." Kanji raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure there's no ulterior motives in that plan?"

"Well, I may want you guys to carry a few bags for me..."

"...I see."

"I don't mind doing that," I said, scratching my head. "Like I said, I wouldn't have anything better to do, anyways."

Rise smiled at me and said, "I can tell you're gonna make some girl happy in the future."

"I'm gonna... W-What?" My two classmates started laughing and/or chuckling. I sighed and decided to forget about that, so I looked at the shops surrounding us. "So... where to first?"

"Huh?" Rise stopped her laughter and also looked around. "Hmm... Over there." She pointed to a swimsuit store. "I need a one-piece."

"One-piece? As in... a bathing suit?"

"Yeah. Duh."

"Ah... Right..."

"Dude, you're face is turnin' red," Kanji said with a smirk.

"W-What! It is not!" I tried covering my face and looking away, but now that I think about it that just made me look even more guiltier. My two classmates just chuckled at this attempt.

"Anyway, come on. I need someone to tell me if it looks nice on me." Rise started making her way over to the store.

"That'll be my job," I said quickly, and followed the redhead. Kanji just stood there, a dumbfounded look on his face.

* * *

"So? What do you think?"

"W... Whoa."

That's all that managed to escape my now-failing mouth. Rise had changed out of her summer clothes and into a red one-pieced swimsuit with a big heart design right in between her... uhhh, yeah.

Rise giggled. "I thought you'd like it." She turned around and picked up a yellow one. "There's still a lot here left to try on..."

"I'm willing to stay here until you're ready," I replied quickly.

Rise turned around with an eyebrow raised and a playful smile. She chuckled and said, "Hey, maybe you should get something, too. I don't want to be the only one swimming this summer."

The thought to get a pair of swimming trunks today never crossed my mind. I had left my own back home, figuring that I'd get a new pair here. Of course, that had yet to happen. "Hmm. Maybe. I've always loved to go swimming, but I never went much."

"Well, that'll change. I'll make sure of it," Rise said with a wink. Which caused me to blush again.

_All this blushing can't be good for me..._

"Oh, yeah, what happened to Kanji?" Rise asked, looking out of the store. "Did he not come in with us?"

"I think... I just left him there..." I replied sheepishly. "He should be fine, though. He's tough."

"He only looks tough," Rise said. "On the inside he's just a big softy."

"Heh. He probably is. But people'll know to stay away from him."

* * *

Rise wound up trying on a _lot_ of different suits (I did _not_ mind), but for some reason stayed away from the two-pieces. That made me feel sad. I also decided to try on a couple of pairs of trunks, during which Rise jokingly suggested I put on a speedo. I was about to, but she quickly said she was kidding. I think her face turned red, too. _Geez, why's everyone blushing today?_

Rise bought three different suits (that red one, a bright yellow one with a couple of suns on it, and a standard pink one), while I bought a pair of navy blue trunks. We walked out of the store to see Kanji sitting on the steps towards the train.

"Took you guys long enough," Kanji sighed. "What the hell were you two doing?"

"Trying on... swimsuits?" Rise raised an eyebrow. "What do you think we were doing?"

"Uh... Nothing, never mind."

"Riiiight... Anyway, let's go somewhere else. I need actual clothes now."

"Hey, you're not the only one here," I said. "There's a chance Kanjimay want to buy something, too, y'know."

"Nah, it's okay," Kanji said, standing up. "I didn't bring any money with me, anyway."

I sighed, "Alright, fine. Where to now?"

"This way!" Rise walked towards another store further down, with Kanji and I right behind her. However, just as we were about to enter the store, some random guy came up to us, Rise specifically.

"U-Um...!" the guy mumbled. "Y-You're Risette, aren't you? I... I..."

"...No, I'm not Risette," Rise lied indifferently. "C'mon, let's go guys." Rise just walked past the dude, who had a crestfallen look on his face. Kanji and I glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed the redhead into the store.

"So-" I was interrupted.

"I didn't want him bothering us," Rise said before I could even start to ask my question. "If he starts going wild because I'm here, then even more people will come up to us."

"Oh. Well that's... uh, thoughtful... I guess," I said, muttering the last part.

"Mm."

* * *

"Rock!"

"Paper!"

"Scissors!"

"Go!"

"Whaaat!"

"Haha! Sorry, dude, you're buying us drinks. Get a can of TaP for me."

"I'll have an orange soda, please."

"Gah... Fine. I'll be back."

I walked away from the two and looked around. There were a hell of a lot of stores in Okina, and if I wasn't careful I could get lost. After about five minutes of random walking, I found the drink vendor, but had to wait in a line up for another few minutes. When I got everyone's drinks, I began my walk back to the others until someone rudely called out to me.

"Hey! You frickin' American!"

I blinked and looked to the where the voice came from. There were two guys leaning against a wall, and they didn't look pleased. Judging from their clothes, they were probably part of a gang.

"What the hell d'ya think your doin' here?" one of them shouted.

I looked around and, oddly, there weren't many people around. Those that were were either not listening or too far away to hear. "I'm... buying drinks?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, we don't like your kind here," the other said. "So _get out of our city._"

"You gotta be kidding me..." I turned my back to them and walked on.

Big mistake.

"_HEY!_"

I sighed and turned around again. "What do you want?" I asked, rather annoyed.

"Don't you dare ignore us! We don't want you friggin' Americans out here, doin' as you please! You're on Japanese soil, so don't think you're better than us!"

"...What? I would never think that."

"Liar!" And then suddenly, the taller of the two guys tried to get a punch in. I just barely managed to dodge it, as well as his second swing that I wasn't expecting.

"What the hell! What did I ever do to you!" I yelled as I ducked under another punch.

"You were _born!_"

And then I felt a fist strike my chin. The punch made me lose my balance, and I wound up falling down to the ground. The drinks I had all fell to the floor, but only my root beer opened and spilt onto the floor. The punch didn't hurt that much, but I could tell I'd have a bruise in the morning.

"You just gonna lie there?" the guy shouted. "HUH?" He raised his legs for a kick, and I started to panic as it came crashing down into my gut.

"GUH!" I wheezed. He kicked me again while he and the other guy laughed. I tried to get myself up but he'd just push me down with his foot again. After a few more kicks, he swung his leg back really far, and it didn't take a detective to figure out that he'd swing as hard as he could.

It did, however, take a detective to actually stop him from kicking.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The two punks turned their heads to see the shortness that is Naoto Shirogane.

"Huh? What the frig do _you_ want?" the other guy asked.

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped harassing him," Naoto said, quickly and coldly. "If you don't stop, I'm afraid I'll have to report you to the authorities."

"What, you're on this guy's side?" the kicker said. "You're gonna get a whooping too!" This dude's friend ran up to the capped-kid and stared her down.

"Please move," she said with anger in her eyes, "or I'll be forced to get serious."

"Psssh, serious? What, you're gonna go cry for the police to come help you? Oh, boo-hoo!" The guy imitated a crying baby, and I could tell Naoto wasn't having any of it.

And to prove it, she grabbed onto the guy's arm and actually flipped him over onto the ground. She got onto his back and pinned his arms behind him.

"What the-" the first guy gasped. I realized this was my opportunity to get him back. I kicked him in the leg myself, making him topple over to the ground. I quickly followed Naoto's actions and held his arms together behind his back. "The hell! Get offa me, you bastard!"

"Shut up!" I yelled at him. Security quickly came and arrested the two young fools; I assumed one of the people nearby called to them. Either that, or Naoto did beforehand. "And for the record," I shouted to them, "I'm Canadian!" They just looked back at me and growled.

"Are you alright?" Naoto asked when the two punks were dragged away.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I said. I rubbed my gut, "Though I'll probably get a few bruises in the morning..."

Naoto chuckled. "Well, as long as you're fine." She nodded to me as a form of farewell. "Now then, if you'll excuse me..." And she left.

"...Huh." I whispered. "She just did her thing and left... Strange."

"Andrew-kun!" Rise and Kanji suddenly ran up from behind. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

"Um, just a bit..." I said, rubbing my sore gut again. "Nothing to fret over, though."

"S-So... He really _was_ in a fight?" Kanji asked, wide-eyed.

"Just as I thought..." Rise sighed.

"Huh? What?" I looked between the two. "What do you mean?"

"U-Uh..." Rise rubbed the back of her head. "I don't know how I knew... I mean, my head just started to hurt, and I somehow figured you were... panicking."

"Your head hurt...?" I put a hand to my chin. _Could it have something to do with that 'connection'?_ Then I realized something. "Hey, wait a sec, your head _hurt_?"

"Um, yeah. I just said that..."

"And that was like, what, a few minutes ago?"

"I think..."

"...Okay, let me think. Way back when in June, on the day you got kidnapped. You and I were talking, right?"

"Uh... Yeah?"

"And then me, Kanji and our senpai ran off, and that's when you were thrown into the TV."

"Uh...huh..."

"At that point, I just randomly got a really big migraine... Probably at the same time you were getting abducted."

The gears in her brain turned and clicked. "You mean...? Whenever either one of us is panicking, the other will feel it?"

"Maybe. I wasn't worrying too much just then, but the fact that you felt it must mean something."

Rise thought for a moment. "Hang on. What day were you thrown in?"

"Huh...? Me?" She nodded. "Um... June the... eighth? I think..."

"Yeah... Yeah!" Rise's head shot up. "I remember now! I was in the middle of a concert that night when I got a headache. It wasn't that big, probably because of the distance between us, but it was there."

"Wait, you can remember when you got a headache a month ago?" Kanji asked.

"Well, it never happened on stage before. That's how I remembered it."

"Ahh..."

"I can also think back in the TV world, when you two and senpai were fighting Teddie's Shadow," Rise continued. "When it smacked you into the floor, my head started to hurt there, too. A lot, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You were probably scared at that point or something."

"Well, I think it did break my arm..."

"It broke-!"

"But Yosuke-senpai managed to heal it right up again."

"O... Oh. Okay..." She sighed in relief. "So, that's something we know about this... _thing_, then. Whatever it is."

"So, you two actually do have something between you?" Kanji asked. "Like, telling you were you both at?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I nodded. "It's how we managed to find and rescue Rise-chan so quickly."

"Oh, yeah, that's right..."

"So... What now?" Rise asked. "Oh! Our drinks! I forgot all about those!"

"Oh, right. Ah..." I looked at the ground. Rise's and Kanji's drinks were alright, but mine was currently being cleaned up by a janitor. "Uh... Hang on, let me get them." I was about to when Rise quickly stopped me.

"Don't worry about them," Rise said. "C'mon, let's go back home."

"B-But I'm down, like, 700 yen for that..."

"We'll pay you back," Rise said. Then she (actually!) grabbed a hold of my hand. "We're going now."

"Um, why are you being so persistent?" I asked.

"People are starting to stare."

I looked around and saw the eyes of many different people. "Why do we be stared at so much...?" I sighed.

"Doesn't matter, let's just get outta here," Kanji replied as he walked back towards the train. Rise practically dragged me along behind her, and I didn't say a word about it.

* * *

We were on the train back to Inaba, and there seemed to be a lot more people this time around.

"So, what was that fight about, anyway?" Rise asked as we found a place to sit.

"Er... Racial abuse, I guess. Two dudes were yelling at me because they thought I was thinking that I was better than them - why they would, I don't know - and when I tried to walk away one of them started swinging at me."

"And you never fought back?" Rise tilted her head.

"I had the drinks in my arms. I couldn't have thrown 'em away 'cause they would've been ruined, and that guy wasn't about to wait for me to set them down somewhere."

"That's... true," she said, nodding. "So, what happened to them when we got there?"

"Oh, a... um, 'friend' came and took one down while I got the other. She left immediately afterwards though."

"...Waaait a minute," she raised an eyebrow. "She?"

"Ah, yeah... Or you could say 'he' if you want. I don't really care right now at the moment."

"What was the person's name?"

"It was that Naoto kid from a week ago. Um... He appeared from nowhere and helped me, and then just left."

"Really? What was... um, he doing there?"

"He... didn't really say. He just said 'if you'll excuse me,' then left."

Rise blinked and her face scrunched. "...Weird."

"Mhm. He just came up to help then vanished. Like he had something urgent to do..." I sighed. "Oh, well, that's in the past now." I idly rubbed my sore gut. "Let's just hope this doesn't hurt too much for the next few days..."

Rise smiled sympathetically, "I hope so, too." We just sat there for a few more seconds before she turned to Kanji. "Hey, Kanji. You haven't said anything in a while."

"Huh-!" The big guy's head instinctively snapped up and he looked around. "W-What? Where are we?"

"Uh... Still on the train?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Were you sleeping just then?"

"I, uh... may have been..." He rubbed the back of his neck, "Why, what were we talking about?"

"Oh... Nothing, really," Rise answered. Her eyes widened. "Oh, crap! I forgot, finals start next week!"

"Wha-" My own eyes shot open. "Aww, man! Did'ja have to remind me? I haven't even started studying yet..."

"Tch... It doesn't matter how much _I_ study..." Kanji sighed. "I'm still gonna flunk every one of 'em..."

I groaned. "History's gonna be the worst one for me... The others may be alright, but I know nothing of Japan's past..."

"History'll be... somewhat okay with me..." Rise mused. "But I'm gonna do the worst in English..."

"...English, you say?" I asked, looking at the shorter girl. She nodded, and an idea formed in my head. "How about we get a study group going on sometime? You could teach me some history while I help you with English."

She looked up at me with surprise in her eyes. "Seriously? You're willing to help me?"

"Yeah, sure. You're my friend, of course I'll help you." I said with a gentle smile.

Rise smiled brightly and raised her arms in the air. "Yesss! Thank you _so_ much, Andrew-kun! I owe you big time!"

If I were evil and corrupt, I would exploit this opportunity to my fullest content. But I wasn't, so I simply said, "Then you have to promise to help me with history."

"Yeah! It'll be my way of saying thanks!"

"H-Hey, what about me?" Kanji asked, waving his arm to get our attention. "I still need help, too..."

"Sorry, Kanji," Rise said. "Andrew-kun's already helping _me_ out. You should ask Yukiko-senpai to help you."

"Wha-" The guy was dumbstruck. "You can't just claim him for yourself! He can help both of us, can't he?"

"No way! Isn't it best to get someone of the opposite sex to be your study partner? That's why Yukiko-senpai should help you."

"B-But she probably can't remember the stuff we're doing now! Plus, she's got her _own_ studying to do, and I don't wanna bother her..."

"Well, too bad. Andrew-kun and I are helping each other, and no one else."

"What about what he thinks?" Kanji looked at me. "What if he doesn't mind helping both of us?"

The two of them looked at me expectedly, but all I could do was shrink away and hope they'd forget about me. "I... I don't know..." They continued to stare at me until they turned around and resumed their argument.

* * *

By the time we returned to Inaba, the sun was _just_ about to set. We said our goodbyes and returned to our homes (or in my case room). When I got back, I saw Teddie just lazing in front of the TV.

"Oh, Andy," was his greeting. He sat up and glared at me, "I was wondering when you'd get back."

"Hmm? What's wrong?" I asked him as I sat down at the table.

"I've been bored stiff since you left! I had nothing to do except watch TV for the entire day! I was waiting and waiting for you to come back, but you didn't! Where did you go to?"

"Um... I hung out with Rise-chan for a bit, then went to Okina city with her and Kanji..."

"And you didn't invite me to go?"

"Uh, sorry, man... I wasn't expecting to go out of town... And I would've called you, but the train was leaving as we got to the station, and you wouldn't have made it..." Actually, that's a lie. We were on the train for, like, twenty minutes before it left.

Teddie seemed to consider what I said, and eventually accepted it. "Alright, fine. But the next time you and Rise-chan go out on a date, invite me, too!"

"Wh... Wh-What!" Aaaand I blushed, once again. "R-Rise-chan and I didn't go on a date! We just hung out as friends! And why would I bring _you_ on a date, anyways? They're for two people only, not three!"

"I've never been on a date! I want to see what it's like!"

"If you want to go on a date..." I sighed. "Ask Kanji."

"What? No way! I'll ask Chie-chan or Yuki-chan one of these days."

"Yeah... Good luck with that."

**

* * *

You all must hate me now for **_**another**_** filler chapter. Don't worry, though, next chapter will actually **_**get**_** somewhere ('cause of you-know-who (*coughuglyguycough*))!**

**Oh, and did you like the surprise opening? XD I was going to have it as Yukiko taking Chie's spot, Rise taking Yukiko's, and Andrew taking Souji's. But then it didn't fit well with the original characters and stuff, so I changed it. Also, for those of you that actually know of it, don't say the name of the anime. There may be people reading this that haven't watched the last episode of it yet.**

**So, reviews are welcome, as well as questions, comments and criticism.**

**Thank you, come again.**


	15. The Supposed Murderer

**Dude. SO MANY people reviewed last chapter. That's insane. And I thank each and every one of you for doing so.**

**Anyways, my replies to your reviews, dood!**

**Windmarkd10:** I agree, filler chapters are good. Personally, I think I would rather read or watch something that isn't all action and fights, but the interactions between characters and their relationships and whatnot. Though I do love a good battle. And don't worry about misspelling words. I'll figure out what you're saying ^_^

**Astrih Konnash:** Yes, yes, it may be the first M-rated scene so far... But that does not mean that there won't be anymore :). Also, I would've put Kanji in the swimsuit store with Andrew and Rise, but then I thought back to the campout: I had figured he got a nosebleed because Souji and Yosuke fell in the water and got all wet and stuff. And as for your question about Andrew and Rise... Yes, it will be explained, though it may take some time to actually get around to doing so (it'll be delayed until the third story, even :S) (Or if people want, I could just skip to it now. But that would ruin it all!)

**NightmareSyndrom:** I've known of its internet meme long before I actually watched the show. And as I was actually watching it, I figured "Screw this, I'm skipping to the end." I couldn't stand the male lead (no names will be said), and I was so happy when... well, you know what happened to him.

**Casey W:** Ha ha! Yes, Yosuke's hoodie will pop up again, soon. But it's not _that_ important to the story's plot; just a little subplot. It's not gonna be a happy little thing, either (that's all I'll say, bucko). There will also be another thing that'll make a return, though I won't say what it is yet (it's actually in this chapter, but its significance won't be shown until another time).

**Dragoon Swordsman:** I'm really glad you enjoy this story! Most OC stories I read aren't very good, but there are those select few that actually manage to grab my attention. And I can tell where you're coming from with Souji and Naoto. But, judging from the in-game dialogue, I have my suspicions that Kanji likes Naoto. So I decided to give the guy a break and have her available. But that's just my choice; you go ahead and pair Souji with Naoto. There are tons of people who think that way, too.

**Gamerof1458:** I'm thinking I got a lot of people with the opening :) I wanted to get in a surprise dream sequence, like the one in Fairly English Story, but I had to come up with one on my own. So I decided to re-enact the ending for [insert game/anime name here]. In my opinion, it worked well. And I don't think different dreams will be a regular plot line - just a one time thing. Though, something may happen in the course of the story regarding that, so have your eyes peeled...

**nickoftime17:** I'm glad you like it!

**anon:** Thanks! I hope you (and everyone else) enjoy the rest of the chapters!

**Good **_**GRAVY **_**I wrote a lot o.O I guess that's just because I'm in high spirits! WHEEEEEEE**

**Also, this chapter covers a lot of time within the game, so I chose to put the days of the week in so that'd it be less of a hassle to figure out what's happening.**

**Disclaimer: Most of the following belongs to Atlus, but the few scenarios where I made up stuff belong to me (obviously).**

**

* * *

~June 11th~**

**~Monday~**

**~8:45AM~**

* * *

I was sitting in my classroom desk with Rise in front of me and Kanji to my right. We began the day with talking about yesterday's events.

"_Man_, I had fun yesterday!" Rise giggled as she stretched her arms. "We should totally go out to Okina City again sometime! ...But, uh, _after _finals."

"Yeah, definitely," I said. "We should ask Teddie and our senpai, too. That bear was so sad that I didn't bring him with us yesterday..."

"Well, tell him not to worry. We'll remember!"

"Yeah, hopefully..."

"Hey, what do you guys think the teachers are doin' about King Moron?" Kanji asked quietly. "I mean, are they having a funeral for him or somethin'...?"

"I... can't say I know," I replied. "But whatever they do, I'm sure they'll have enough respect to actually call him by his _real name_." I glared at Kanji, who just looked away casually.

"Speaking of the teachers, Ms. Omukay's late this morning..." Rise said, looking at the sliding door.

"Could be something involving Kin- ...Morooka."

"Yeah, maybe..." Rise's nose suddenly twitched. "Ah... Ahh..." And then she sneezed. "Ah-_chyew!_" And it was probably the cutest little sneeze I ever heard.

"H-Hey, you alright?" Kanji asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Rise said, covering her nose. "I think it was just a one-time thing..."

"Hey," I said. "Isn't there like a saying that goes something like, 'If someone's talking about you, you'll wind up sneezing'?"

"Well, that's no surprise, since it's be _me_ they'd be talking about," Rise said with a smirk.

I chuckled. "Yeah, that's true."

**

* * *

~3:45PM~**

Sometime during the day, Souji decided to get everyone together to actually talk about Mr. Morooka's death, instead of just waiting to see what happens. So we all gathered around the familiar table in Junes to discuss what we think.

"So, about Mr. Morooka..." Yosuke started after I glared at him. "He never appeared on the Midnight Channel at all, or any of the regular programs."

"Did he even go to the other side?" Chie asked aloud. "I know we checked a bit too late yesterday, but we still didn't learn anything over there..."

"But then again, the body was found on a foggy day, right?" Rise asked. "From what you guys've told me, we'd have until the next foggy day to rescue someone before they die, right?"

"That's true..." Yukiko said. "And the news report I watched said that the crime scene was the same way with Ms. Yamano's and Saki-senpai's."

"So maybe he _was_ over there, then...?" Yosuke asked.

"What _I'm _wondering is _why_ the killer's doing this," I spoke. "His motives... Why target Mr. Morooka? What did _he _ever do?"

"Hope it wasn't personal," Kanji said, glancing to the side. "'Cause there's _way _to many people who hated his guts..."

"I don't think it would've been personal," Souji replied. "So far, the people who've been targeted got famous on the TV. There's a chance that the killer may not actually _know_ the victims, so there may not be any motives at all."

"I agree," Yosuke agreed. "There're too many people who hold grudges for whatever reason, even if you've met them or not."

"Yeah, that's right," Rise nodded, then sighed. "The life of a star can be like that."

All was quiet for a little while before Kanji spoke up again. "Man, two victims in a row from our school... That's gotta set off the police's alarm bells. They're not gonna leave any stones at school unturned."

"You know, somewhere deep inside," Yosuke said. "I thought maybe King- ...Mr. Morooka was the killer..."

"You did?" Chie asked, both she and Yukiko looking at him in surprise.

"The news says that he was the second victim from Yasogami High," Yosuke continued, "but we all know that's not the case. And I've heard him say more than once that so-and-so deserves to die... But now..." He raised his head to look at the sky, "I feel bad that I doubted him. He was a capital-A asshole, but that doesn't justify killing him... And not just him. I feel sorry for all the victims." His eyebrows furrowed and he became angry. "I can't forgive the killer, no matter what!"

We lowered our heads in thought, then Chie raised hers again. "Well, we'll do what we can, for Morooka's sake too!"

"Yeah!" I nodded in agreement. "Whatever's in our power, we'll do it! For all of the victims so far."

"At this rate," Chie continued, "you have to figure that the killer has something to do with the school, right? So why don't we split up and-"

"That won't be necessary."

We snapped our heads to the side to see Naoto walk up behind us. _The hell? Is this kid following me or something?_

"Y-You..." Kanji said, shocked.

"Naoto-san..." I said, remembering the honorific. I also remembered yesterday, and stood up in my seat. "Ah, r-right. I forgot to thank you for yesterday. So... uh, thanks for helping me."

The girl and/or boy blinked in surprise, but then chuckled. "No thanks is needed. I was only doing what a I thought what was right."

"Huh? W-What happened?" Yukiko asked.

"A, um, fight," I said, rubbing my not-as-sore-anymore gut. "I-I'll explain it later."

"Anyways," Naoto said. "There is no need for you all to examine the case of Mr. Morooka any further."

Everyone gasped. "Wh-Why's that?" Chie asked, just as surprised as the rest of us.

"Apparently, the police have found a suspect. It would be best to let them handle the case from here."

_S-Seriously?_

"Uh, how do you know?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm on this case as a special investigator, by request of the prefectural police."

"What!" Yosuke shouted, standing up.

"S-So... you're a cop?" Teddie asked, wide-eyed.

"I'm not a police officer, per se," Naoto explained. "I'm a detective, simply working alongside them."

"So the police actually found a suspect...?" Chie asked. "Who is it?"

Naoto shook his/her head. "As to his name, I have yet to be informed. I do know... that he is a high schooler." Everyone gasped. "It isn't public knowledge yet, but he isn't a student of your high school. It seems they are quite confident that this boy is the killer... They have testimonies directly linking him with the incident. I expect it's only a matter of time before he is apprehended. Soon, this case will be solved, and your town will once again be its peaceful, rustic self."

"The suspect... is a high schooler...?" I asked, falling back into my seat. I shook my head, "Wow... Just why would a kid be willing to actually... _kill_ someone...?"

"There could be many answers to that," Naoto responded. "What that answer is, exactly, the police have yet to know."

"All right then..." Yosuke said, sitting down as well. "So why come tell us? That's confidential info, right? Why run here and spill it?"

Naoto looked each of us in the eyes and said, "Your 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least let you know that."

"Our... 'game'?" Yukiko repeated, her face scrunched.

"We don't think of this as a game," Souji said to the detective. "This is actual murder. All of us know that this is serious."

"You don't deny, then," Naoto quickly responded, looking Souji right in his eyes, "that you have involved yourselves in the matter?"

"U-Uh... He's got us there," I said to myself, which thankfully no one heard.

Naoto sighed, "Well, no matter. I have no reason to say anything further."

"A game...?" Rise said quietly. In fact, that was the first she spoke since Naoto arrived. She looked up at the capped-kid with angry eyes. "Aren't _you_ the one who thinks of this as a game?" Naoto looked at her, shocked at her outburst. "I don't care if you're a special investigator or an amateur sleuth... All you're doing is solving mysteries. What could you possibly know about us? You're the one who's playing a game here!"

_Attagirl, Rise-chan!_

"One of the victims... She meant a lot to me," Yosuke added. "How could I possibly treat this as a game? Plus..." Yosuke looked at Teddie. "We made a promise..."

"Y-Yosuke..." Teddie said with tears in his eyes.

_My turn._ "These are peoples' lives here, and they're just being taken away. How could _anyone_ think of this as a game?"

"A game..." Naoto repeated. He lowered his head and smiled slightly, "That may be quite true..."

"Huh?" Chie said. "Wh-Why so understanding all of a sudden...?"

Yosuke must've realized something. "Oh, _I_ get it... I was wondering why you'd be wandering around like this when the police have a suspect..." He smirked, "What, did they get rid of you now that they have their man? Is that why you came here? You were lonely?"

Naoto looked at him with a smirk of his own. "Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests. And we never harbor any special emotions regarding a case, either. It... _is_ rather unfortunate that people are only attentive so long as our services are required..." His smile returned to him. "But then, I'm accustomed to it.

"Much about this case was perplexing," he continued, "but its solution was surprisingly simple..." He nodded, "Well then, I'll be going now." Naoto turned on his heel and walked away.

"What was that about...?" Chie asked when he left the food court. "He just said his piece and left...? He said they have a suspect, but is this really gonna solve everything?"

Yosuke sighed. "Who knows..."

"Let's just call it a day," Souji said, standing from his chair.

"Agreed," Rise agreed, and stood as well. We all said good-bye to one another, and made our way back to our homes.

* * *

Just before I was going to head back to the inn, Souji asked me to follow him. I agreed, and he led me to the Samegawa Flood Plain. We stopped in the middle of the path and he turned around.

"What is it, senpai?" I asked.

"What was that about a fight you mentioned?" Souji asked. "You thanked Naoto for getting you out of it, I'm assuming?"

"Oh... Oh, right, I forgot to explain it," I sighed. "It wasn't... _too_ big of a thing. It was just some guys who were saying shit to me. Be... Because I'm not from here."

Souji's eyes narrowed. "Discrimination, then?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"I see..." He looked me in the eyes. "And... you were okay with that?"

"No, of course not. Racism of any kind is something I hate. I just... you know, wanted to try and forget about it, is all..."

Souji paused, then said, "You'll have to be careful around here, then. You never know when someone might try and start another fight."

"Right, I'll be careful," I nodded.

"Hey, you have my cell number, right?"

"Huh? Um, yeah, I got everyone's. Why?"

"If someone starts a fight, or is even picking on you, call me. No - call anyone; Kanji, Yosuke, Chie-chan - anyone who can help you get out of that predicament." He put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I don't want to see you get hurt. Don't hesitate to call any of us if you're in danger. You got that?"

"Y-Yeah. I got it," I said with a smile and a nod. He was about to say something else, but my cell started to ring. "Uh... Do you mind if I answer this?"

He smiled and said, "Go right ahead."

"Thanks." I took my phone out and gasped when I checked the caller ID. "M-Mom...?" I quickly flipped it open and put it to my ear. "H-Hello?" I said in English.

"_Hi, Andrew! How are you doing?"_

"I'm just fine, but... What about you? Isn't it really early over there?"

"_I woke up early, and I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I decided to call you! We all miss you, you know..."_

"I-I'm sure you do... I miss you guys, too..." I could already feel the tears starting to swell in my eyes.

"_So how're you doing in Japan? Is it nice there?"_

"Oh, yeah, it's beautiful here! I think I'd rather a rural town than a big city."

"_Well, I'm glad you do, because you're gonna be there a while."_

"Haha, yeah, that's true..."

_"So how're the friends you mentioned in your letter?"_

"Did that letter just get there?"

"_A few days ago, actually, yes."_

"I see... Anyways, yeah, all my friends are great! We're trying to solve a murder mys-" _Oh shit!_ I noticed Souji's eyes shot open.

"_I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't quite catch that last part."_

"I said, um... W-We're playing a video game involving a mystery. Yeah, one of my senp- ...Upperclassmen has this game that's like a virtual mystery solver, and the lot of us are trying to figure out one. It's on a multiple murder case." Souji's eyes returned to normal, thankfully, though he didn't seem pleased that I chose to refer to the case as a game.

"_Oh, really? Well, as long as it's the game and not the real thing."_ I could tell she was joking, but _geez_ was she spot on to the truth.

"Um, yeah, hahaha..." I scratched the back of my head. "S-So, what's going on with you guys there? Everything alright?"

"_Yes, of course everything's fine. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Sean made the team he wanted to join!"_

"S... Sean, huh..." I glanced at Souji, who mouth 'who?' "My brother," I said, but it was only after that I realized it was in English. Souji understood, though.

"_Yeah, isn't it amazing? He tried for so long to join it, and now he actually did! He's so happy! He wished you were here for the little celebration we had..."_

"Celebration?" I blinked. "You mean, like... a party?"

"_Yeah! We had some cake and we invited his friends and some family over. They were all sad that you couldn't be there, but they're all wishing you the best of luck out there!"_

"Um... Well, tell them I said thanks."

_"I will... Are you alright, by the way?"_

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine, don't worry about me."

_"...Alright then. I'm getting tired now, so I'll try to sleep for another few hours before I go to work. Love you!"_

"Yeah... Love you, too. Bye." I closed my phone, pocketed it and sighed. I turned to Souji to see him just standing there. "Ah... Sorry for taking a while, senpai."

"No, don't worry about it," he said, shaking his head. "So, what was she saying?"

I blinked at his bluntness, but said, "Nothing, really... Just saying how my brother managed to get a spot on the hockey team he was trying out for, and that there was a party and everything..."

"The same brother you're... jealous of?"

"Uhm... Yeah."

"And how long has he been trying to get on this team?"

"Um... Lemme think... A few years now, maybe?"

"Hmm... I see." Souji nodded and looked at me. "I'm going to take my leave now. Be careful on your way back to the inn."

"C'mon, senpai," I said with playful punch. "Nothing like that's happened to me in Inaba yet, so don't worry so much."

"That doesn't mean that it won't happen again," he replied a little harshly.

"Uh... R-Right..."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but you never know when someone could just come up and start calling you names. You've always got to be careful anywhere and everywhere."

"I... I got it," I said. Souji nodded, and turned around to walk home. "Hey, senpai?" I called out to him before he was too far away. He paused and turned around. I smiled gently and said, "...Thanks."

He blinked, smiled as well, said, "No problem," and continued on his way.

**

* * *

~July 17th~**

**~Sunday~**

**~10:00AM~**

* * *

Rise and I decided that we'd have the study group first thing on Sunday morning, so I woke up this morning with a smile on my face.

...Which quickly faded once I realized it was raining out. Luckily, the Amagi Inn supplies umbrellas to those who don't have one, so I was about to walk down to the lobby to grab one when Teddie woke up himself.

"Hmm...? Andy, where're you goin'...?" he asked sleepily.

"To Rise-chan's house," I answered. "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"No," was his reply. "I want to go with you."

I sighed and said, "Ted, you'll be bored out of your mind there. All we're gonna be doing is studying and reviewing and stuff."

"Then I'll help you guys."

"Do you even know anything about Japan's history _or_ the English language?"

"...No..."

"Exactly." I sighed again, "Why don't you... go to the TV world today? Just for something to do."

"I don't wanna. I wanna stay on this side with you and Rise-chan and everyone else."

I sighed again, "Then... how about Junes? I think Yosuke-senpai mentioned that he was working today, so you can go and bug him."

Teddie sat up. "That does sound like fun," he said with a mischievous smile. "Okay, then! While you're on your date, I'll go bother Yosuke!"

"It's not a date, _dammit!_"

* * *

After both of us grabbed an umbrella each and I pointed Teddie in the right direction, I made my way to the shopping district. I would've walked right to Marukyu were it not for an interruption.

"Huh? I don't think I've seen you around here before."

I turned to my left to see an attendant at the gas station. He had long, bright beige hair tied into a ponytail underneath his cap. That cap was red with the station's name on it, and his uniform was colored red, yellow and white. He wasn't holding an umbrella, which was strange considering the weather.

"Uh, r-really?," I replied. If he hadn't of said anything, I wouldn't have noticed him and walked right on by. "I've been here for over a month now..."

"I see... You must've been around when I wasn't working here," the guy said with a nod.

"P-Probably..." In all honesty, this guy seemed kind of creepy. I don't know why, but he was just... strange.

"Hey, did you ever hear about that rumor?" he asked with a smile. "You know, the one about rainy nights?"

"The... Midnight Channel, you mean?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Um... Yeah, I have heard of it..."

"Oh, that's cool. I haven't tried it out myself, since I'm always so busy, but I've heard a lot of people say it works."

"Yeah..." I shifted uncomfortably. "I-I'm sorry, but I've gotta get going now."

"Huh? Oh, sure, right. Sorry for taking up your time."

"It's... okay," I nodded to him as a farewell, then quickly made my way to the tofu shop.

* * *

"Hey!" Rise cried as I walked up the shop's steps. "You're late, you know."

"Sorry, sorry!" I replied, closing my umbrella. "I had to send Teddie off to Junes for the day so he wouldn't get bored, and then I got stopped by this... creepy gas station attendant."

"Creepy...?" Rise raised an eyebrow, then widened her eyes in understanding. "Ohh, I think I know who you're talking about... Yeah, that guy _is_ a little strange..." She shook her head, making her twin tails flop about. "Anyways, c'mon in! My actual home's just behind here."

Rise led me through the tofu shop's kitchen to a door out of sight from customers, right beside some shelves. Behind this doorway was the Kujikawa house's actual kitchen. It was a typically normal room, consisting of a fridge, oven, microwave, table (with actual chairs), and all the other stuff belonging to a kitchen. Hung on the walls were pictures of a much younger Rise and her grandmother in all sorts of different places - one of at a park, another shopping for food, and yet another just sitting on the tofu shop's steps. She looked really happy in those pictures.

The Rise of today took a seat at the chair furthest from the door, while I sat directly across from her.

"So, what first?" I asked, taking some books out of the school bag I forgot to mention I had.

Rise had a playful smile on her face. "Hmm... Well, you know, there's this saying that goes, 'ladies first,' soooo..."

"Gah, fine, I'll help you first," I said with a smile of my own.

She giggled and grinned, "Thanks!"

**

* * *

~10:45AM~**

"Okay, so, what does _this _sentence say?"

"It says... uhhh... 'I... walked... my... dog'?"

"Yep, that's right!"

"YES!"

**~11:25AM~**

"Okay, let's see... 'Which era was Oda Nabunaga a part of?'"

"Uh... I think it was the... Sengoku Era?"

"Aha, perfect!"

"Alright!"

**~12:00PM~**

"Hello?"

_"Okay, why exactly did you send Ted over here again?"_

"Sorry, Yosuke-senpai, I don't know what you're talking about. Whoops-sorry-gotta-go-bye."

_"What the-!"_

_Click_

**~12:30AM~**

"Itadakimasu!" The two of us cried as we dug into our food (would you be willing to believe it _wasn't_ tofu?)

"Mm! This is good!" I commented as I let the meat burn my mouth alive.

"You really think so?" Rise asked. "I didn't have much time to make it, so I didn't think it was that good."

"No, no, it's delicious! You're a really good cook, you know that?"

Rise blushed, but didn't bother to hide it. "T-Thank you!"

"Hey, by the way, where's your grandmother?"

"She's gone out to get some groceries."

"She's... gone out?"

"Yep."

"So... we're the only two here?"

"Unless someone comes to the store to bye something, yeah. Why?"

"Oh, uh... N-Nothing."

"Okay then." She looked up at me, and most likely saw my red face. She must've realized what I was thinking, since she blushed again. "W-What are you thinking of...?"

"N-Nothing!" I said quickly, waving my hands in front of me. "Nothing at all! L-Let's just finish this wonderful meal and get back to work!"

"R-Right...!"

**

* * *

~July 23rd~**

**~Saturday~**

**~3:35PM~**

* * *

"Whew! Finally done," I sighed as I rubbed my wrist. "My hand kills though..."

We had just finished writing our last exam, and I couldn't be happier. Now that I'm done, I can finally enjoy my summer.

Kanji suddenly planted his face into his desk, which left a mark. On the desk.

"Dude, I so totally _bombed_ them all..." Kanji whined, not removing his forehead from the dent in the wooden desk.

"Aw, cheer up, Kanji," Rise said, more perky than I thought she would be. "Just think: at least you're done now!"

"Tch," Kanji scoffed. "As if that means anything now... If I don't do well in these tests, my ma's gonna flip her lid." He pulled his head up and glared at me. "Why couldn't you help _me_ with the work?"

Rise groaned. "What, this again? I told you before, it's only natural for guys to have a _girl_ as their study partner!"

"That's bullshit!" Kanji yelled, easily gaining the attention of the students around us. "Souji-senpai studies with Yosuke, and he even helped _me_ once!" He glanced to the side, "Though it didn't help much..."

"He did?" Rise's eyebrow raised. "W-Well, since he's our leader, he has to help everyone right? So studying with guys is an exception for him."

Kanji opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when he realized he actually had nothing to say.

"Speaking of our senpai," I said. "How about we go up and see how they did on their finals?"

"Okay, sure," Rise nodded, and we both walked out of the room with Kanji following closely behind.

* * *

"Oooh, you're so annoying!" Chie cried as we entered the classroom. From the grin on his face, it was apparent that Yosuke was getting on her nerves again. He was also the first one to notice us enter the room.

"Yo," I said as I walked up to them.

"Hey guys," Yosuke greeted us. He glanced over to Kanji and must've seen his depressed face. "Whoa! Another loser?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Dude, shut up," Kanji sighed.

"So, how'd you guys do on your finals?" Chie asked us.

"Alright, I guess." "Pretty good, I think." "Terrible."

"Well, that sums that up."

"So, how'd you do, senpai?" Rise asked Souji.

Said second-year smirked, "My pen was on fire. There wasn't a question I couldn't answer."

"Wow, impressive," I said, amazed. "I don't think I'll be as good as you."

Kanji groaned. "Enough about the exams already... What's going on with the murder case?"

"Why don't we head to our special headquarters?" Yosuke suggested. "We haven't been there in a while."

"Yeah," Yukiko added. "And it'd be better to talk about the case there than it would be here."

"Alright, then, let's go," Souji decided, and stood from his desk.

* * *

We all sat at the table, with me in between Kanji and Rise. Since it was July, it was rather hot out, so each of us ordered something to drink.

"I'm kinda bummed..." Chie sighed as we sipped our beverages.

"Why?" Yosuke asked with a smirk. "Because you failed every exam?"

"Shut up!" Chie growled. Her frown came back again, "Well, yeah, _that_, but... The whole thing with the police finding the suspect's really been getting me down... I mean, we believed that only we could solve this case. And now..."

"Well, we still don't know yet," I said. "The police haven't actually arrested anyone." I paused, "...Did they?"

"Not from what I know," Yosuke answered.

"So... we gotta sit on our thumbs and wait," Kanji said. We all lowered our heads in sadness, knowing that our trips to the TV world could come to an end very soon.

_W-Wait... Why am I sad? I should be happy that the killer's going to be caught. ...Is what Naoto said the other day true, then? That I really DO treat this as a game...?_

"For crying out loud... It's nice to have a suspect, but where the hell is he?" Everyone looked up towards the food court counter to see Adachi mumbling to himself. "We're at the end of our rope here..." His gaze hovered over to us and he jumped in shock. "Y-You guys! D-Did you hear what I said?" The majority of us nodded, and his mood quickly swung from surprise to proud. "Ah... Ahahaha! This case is as good as solved! Don't worry, kids. It's only a matter of time before we bring in the suspect. I mean, the guy's kidnapping people at random, and slaughtering them! We won't rest until we bring him to justice!" His smile fell when he saw that we weren't buying his speech. "I-I gotta get going!" And he quickly spun around and entered the open elevator.

"Now," Yosuke said, turning back to us, "I'm REALLY worried." He sighed, "On the other hand... If the police have a search warrant out for the guy, we should stay out of it."

"Yeah..." Rise sighed as well. She was only on the other side once, but I could tell that she was depressed about not being able to go over any more. We were quiet for a few moments before her head rose again. "Oh, uh, I just remembered. There was a question on the exam that I didn't understand well." Her brow furrowed in thought. "I think it was, 'The chemical formula for HCHO, used for silver mirror reactions. Its 40 percent solution is known as formalin.' And the question was, 'What is HCHO?'"

"...Oh, yeah, I remember that one," I said, though I internally questioned why it gave so much info for just asking what the chemical is. "I answered formic acid."

"Hmm? No, that's not right," Souji replied. "It's formaldehyde."

"It is?" Rise and I asked.

"Oh, I see..." Rise continued, a hand to her chin. "I chose acetic acid... Duh, of course it couldn't have been vinegar." She looked over at Kanji, "Hey, Kanji, you had that question, too, didn't you?"

The big guy just glanced at her, "Shut up. I don't want to talk about it."

Her face scrunched. "Wow, kinda harsh, aren't you?" She smirked, "I heard you got a nosebleed when you were around our senpai."

"What, he did?" I raised an eyebrow, then looked at Kanji. "When was that? The only time I remember ever seeing your blood was at the campout that one time..."

"H-Hey!" Kanji said, very much surprised. "Who the hell blabbed about that!"

"A-Anyways!" Chie quickly changed the subject in fright. "Rise-chan, why don't you ask Yukiko to help you study?"

"What, you guys, too?" Rise deadpanned. "I already told Andrew-kun and Kanji, it's best to have a study partner of the opposite sex! Kanji's been going on and on about how I 'claimed Andrew-kun' or something. I was really getting mad at him..." She crossed her arms and pouted. Our senpai blinked and were at a loss for words while Kanji just ignored her. Rise then turned to me and, with a sorrowful expression, asked, "Hey, Andrew-kun... I'm not... being a bother, am I?"

I blinked and answered honestly, "What? No, of course you're not! I enjoy spending time with you."

Her smile returned to her, as well as a red tint on her cheeks. "Thanks."

"Wow... This girl's dangerous...!" Chie whispered, though I don't think 'this girl' actually heard her. The brown-headed girl quickly turned to Yosuke. "L-Let's change the subject."

_Again, senpai?_

"Any idea how Teddie's doing?" she continued.

Yosuke's eyes opened wider than normal, as if he just remembered something. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it to you guys. Check it out." He turned his head over to the side and, not far from here, I saw the blue and red suit that we were all familiar with. He was holding balloons of different colors and shapes, and handing them out to the little kids that were around his feet. Teddie saw us looking at him, so he smiled and waved at us. Rise, Chie, Yukiko and myself all waved back.

"Ted's been at Junes for a few days in a row now," Yosuke continued with a glare at me. I just looked away with a whistle. "One of those days, he brought his bear suit with him for some reason. The manager saw it, liked it, and made him our official store mascot."

"Aaah!" Kanji realized. "So he's hiding in plain sight. Reverse psychology, huh?" He glanced over and waved to Teddie, who cheerfully waved back. "Man... He looks like one happy bear..."

"Ted's been saying how he didn't want to go back over there," I said. "This oughta be a good thing to do in the mean time."

"Now," Yosuke announced, "since I've got nothing better to do... I'm gonna go bug him."

"Oooh, I wanna go too!" Chie cried.

"C-Can I... feel his soft fur...?" Kanji asked.

"Is his fur really that soft...?" I whispered. I narrowed my eyes at the bear, "...We must test this." I stood up, along with Kanji, Chie and Yukiko (who strangely hasn't said a word since we got to Junes). Rise and Souji didn't walk with us right away, opting to stay and chat for a second.

"Yo, Ted!" Yosuke said as we walked up to him. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good, actually!" Teddie said happily. He handed a balloon over to a kid in a green shirt, who immediately ran off again with a 'thank you.' "I'm one happy bear, seeing the beautiful smiles of these little kids!" He turned to me. "Thanks, Andy, for letting me come here that one time! If you didn't, I wouldn't have been able to get this sweet job!"

"Haha, I just said you should come here since you didn't have anything better to do," I replied. "I didn't actually think you'd be able to get a job here." Which reminds me, "Senpai, is there still a spot for me?"

Yosuke blinked. "'Still'? Did I promise you a job here?"

"Uh, yeah?" I raised an eyebrow. "The first day we all hung out together, we decided to come here, where you told me that you would leave open a spot when the summer came."

"Oh, I remember now..." Yosuke put a hand to his chin. "I'll have to see if there's any spots available at the moment. If there is, you'll be hired on the spot!"

"Oh, sweet!" I pumped a fist in the air. "Finally, I'll be able to _earn_ some money!"

"Kanji, knock it off!" Teddie yelled as he swatted away Kanji's wandering hand.

"But I wanna feel your fur...!"

"Teddieeeeee!" Rise called from behind us. "Heeeeey!" She and Souji walked up behind us, Rise opting to stand right beside me. "What's up?"

"Nothing!" the bear replied. "I'm just handing out balloons to the kids."

"Balloons?" Rise raised an eyebrow. "Ooh, can I have one?"

"B-But..." Teddie's smile disappeared. "They're only for the kids."

"Aw, c'mon, Ted," I said. "Let her have one."

"Hmm... I don't know if I should..."

"If you don't, you're sleeping out in the hallway until next Saturday." Of course, I wouldn't actually do that to the poor guy. But he didn't need to know that.

"What? NOOO!" Teddie quickly shoved the balloons into Rise's gut, which made her groan. "Here, Rise-chan, take all of them if you want!" He turned to me, "Just don't make me sleep in the hallway! I love my bed!"

"Haha! Okay, okay, you can stay in your bed," I said, patting him on the head. He quickly swatted my hand away, too.

"Ah ah ah! No touching the fur, bub!"

"Wow, it actually _is_ soft..."

**

* * *

~July 25th~**

**~Monday~**

**~12:05PM~**

* * *

"So, how do you guys think you did?" I asked Kanji and Rise while we ate our lunches.

"Alright, I guess..." Rise sighed. "But now that we'll be seeing them soon, I'm not sure if I did that well or not..."

"Same thing with me..." I replied. "Even if I feel like I did good on something, I'm always worried that I'll do poorly on it when I get it back..." The two of us then turned to Kanji, who shook his head.

"No need to wonder how _I_ did..." Kanji sighed. "I'm sure I flunked all of them with flying colors..."

"Aw, c'mon, Kanji," I said, patting the guy's back. "There's always next time."

He scoffed. "Yeah, right. Like next time'll be any different..."

The door behind us suddenly burst open, and I girl whose name I had yet to learn ran in. "Hey, everyone! The teachers posted the exam results!"

"Ah, well here we go," Rise sighed. "You all ready?"

"Sorta."

"Nope."

"Alright then, let's go check 'em out!"

* * *

"Hmm. Not bad. I made it within the top ten, surprisingly. I was sure history would've brought me down..."

"Not as bad as I do every other time, but I think I could do a _bit_ better. I must've done well on English, though."

"Oh, you _gotta _be shittin' me... I didn't even make the top thirty! What the hell happened?"

Rise and I decided to ignore Kanji as he hung his head in shame. "So, how do they get these scores?" I looked down at Rise. "Like, do they average all of the exams and compare them to the others?"

"Actually, yeah. That's how it works," she replied, looking up at me.

"Oh? Ohh." I looked back at the chart. "But do they have to have it so they show everyone? I mean, poor Kanji's getting looks of pity from everyone..."

"That's something I can't explain," Rise said. She shook her head, "Well, that doesn't matter now! I did alright, so I've got nothing to worry about!"

"Haha, but you still didn't do as well as I did!" I said in a sing-song voice. She looked back up at me with a pout and a moan, and I could only laugh at how cute she looked.

_**'You seem to be rather fond of her.'**_

_Th-That doesn't mean anything. And where the hell have you been the last few weeks?_

_**'Merely in deep thought. I've been trying to figure out everything we don't know so far.'**_

_And... any luck?_

_**'Sadly, none. I will continue to sort things through, though.'**_

_...Mmm... Well, just try your best. If you need any help, I'll be here._

_**'Hahaha, as if you could be of any help.'**_

_WHAT-! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?_

"Andrew-kun, what's with that face?"

_OH SHIT I'M MAKING FACES. _"A-Ahh, n-nothing! I'm-I'm just..." I glanced around to see everyone around us staring at me. "I-I'm going back to class." And go back to class I did.

**

* * *

~1:15PM~**

"Everyone, I have something to hand back to you, now," Ms. Omukay announced as she waved a bunch of sheets in the air. "These are those short stories you all handed in a few weeks ago. Some were good, and... some weren't that great. But there was one that really stood out from the rest."

"Huh," Rise said. "Wonder who that is."

"No clue," I replied.

Ms. Omukay began walking around the class, distributing each paper to their respective owner. She then came up to us, where she handed Rise's and Kanji's to them with an added, "Good job." However, when she came up to me, she smiled brightly and said, "Andrew-kun, this was marvellous. I'm hoping to see more work like this in the future."

"Huh? O... Okay," I said, baffled. She handed me my essay and continued with her walk around the room. I looked at the mark on my sheet and- "96%? Seriously?"

"What!" Rise, Kanji, and pretty much everyone looked at me after my outburst. They had shocked, yet impressed looks on their faces.

"How- W-What did-" Kanji tried to say.

"I just... wrote what I was thinking," I said, flipping through the pages. "Though I didn't think it was _that_ good..."

"You're gonna hafta help me again," Rise said, looking bewildered.

I chuckled, "We'll have to see."

**

* * *

~July 27th~**

**~Wednesday~**

**~12:00AM~**

* * *

It began to rain earlier today, and as I had thought, Souji called each of us to remind us to watch the Midnight Channel. Teddie was excited for it, since this would be the first time he actually saw one. The same goes for Rise, too, I guess, though she probably wasn't as excited as the bear.

"Is it midnight yet?"

"No. There's still ten minutes before then."

...

"How about now?"

"_No_, Ted. I just said, there's ten minutes left."

...

...

"Now?"

"No. Not. Yet."

...

...

...

"N-"

"_Just stop talking!_"

Ten minutes eventually passed, and what we saw on the turned-off TV was _not_ what I was expecting.

It was some kid, maybe my age or older. And _BOY_ was he ugly. His eyes were huge, and so were his pupils, almost like a fish's. He just stared through the TV, as if looking right at me and Ted, almost like a zombie. He had an orange shirt on with eight 'W's on it, which was the Japanese equivalent to 'lol', according to Yosuke. The guy was standing in what looked like an ancient Greek coliseum of sorts.

"Wow," Teddie gawked. "I didn't think it was like that...!"

"You all think you can see me?" the boy asked in monotone. "You all think you know everything about me?" He paused for a moment, then chuckled maniacally, if that's even possible. "Then try and catch me." The boy promptly disappeared upon saying that.

"Now I understand what's going on..." The bear turned to me, "Quick! Call Sensei on your phone!"

"O-Okay... Hopefully no one else's calling him..." I quickly speed-dialed Souji's cell number and, after a couple of rings, he picked up.

_"Hello?"_ he asked.

"Senpai, did you see that?" I asked.

_"Yeah, I did. But I don't know who that was... Did you see that boy on any actual TV programs recently?"_

"No, I haven't..." I replied, realizing that there was a quick beep in the speaker, indicating that there was another call coming in. "Senpai, I've got someone else calling me now..."

_"Same here. You should ans-"_

"No! Sensei, wait!" Teddie cried, attempting to grab my cell from me. "Andy, give me the phone!"

"A-Alright, alright, hold your horses!" I yelled back, shoving him away from me. "Sorry, senpai, Ted wants to speak with you."

_"Um, okay."_

I handed Teddie my cell phone and he put it to his ear. "Sensei! It's me, Teddie!"

"I'm sure he knows that..." I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"I finally got to see the Midnight Channel with my own eyes. Now I know exactly what's happening. That guy's suppressed emotions are resonating with the other side, which are picked up by the TVs over here. It's clear now that it's not being filmed by anyone. Mystery solved!"

"Wha... Was that what we were trying to figure out?" I raised an eyebrow.

"But that kid..." Teddie continued, ignoring me. "He must already be inside the other world! What're we gonna do?" Souji said something that I couldn't quite pick out, but whatever it was, Teddie cheerfully replied, "Gotcha! I knew I could count on you, Sensei!" He suddenly sighed, "Whew... I think my heart skipped a bear... I mean, beat."

"Okay, Ted, I think you've had your turn." I took the phone out of his hands and put it to my own ear. "Alright, senpai, I think that's that. I'm still getting a call from someone else..."

_"Alright, we'll leave it at that. Bye for now."_

"Yeah, see ya." I pressed a button on my cell to receive the incoming call. "Hello?"

_"Oh, Andrew-kun! About time you picked up!"_

"Ah, sorry, Rise-chan... Ted and I were talking with Souji-senpai, and I couldn't answer your call."

_"Mm. Well, no matter. Anyways, did you see that?"_

"Yeah, I did. Who _was_ that?"

_"I don't know. I've never seen him on the TV before now..."_

"And not only that, but there was no blurry image like before..."

_"Blurry image?"_

"Oh, d-did we not mention that to you? Um, a few days before someone gets thrown into the TV, there's a blurry image of them doing something on the TV. It happened with me and you, and I think Kanji and Yukiko-senpai..."

_"I see... Hey, you heard what that guy said, right? He said something like, 'try and catch me'... Do you think...?"_

"That he may be the killer?" I finished for her. "I don't know. It wouldn't be wise to just jump to conclusions yet. Let's sleep on this and talk about it some more tomorrow."

_"Alright then. G'night! Say bye to Teddie for me, too!"_

"Sure thing. See ya tomorrow." I closed and turned off my phone, then turned to said. "Rise-chan said 'bye,' just so you know."

"Oh! Well call her back and say see ya tomorrow again for me, too, would ya?"

"No way, bud. My phone's already off."

"What! Aww, c'mon!"

"Teddie, please, there're people sleeping here."

"Oh yeah, that's right..." He lowered his head in thought, then snapped it back up. "Andy, what room does Yuki-chan sleep in?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What? How would I know?"

"We all live under the same roof, so wouldn't it be smart to know where each other slept? I mean, what if something happens to the inn and we need to make sure we're all okay?"

I blinked. "You... You _actually_ have a point there..." I put a hand to my chin. "It's probably too late to go look for her, so I'll ask Yukiko-senpai tomorrow."

"Alrighty then! I'm off now!" He then somehow swiftly fell _into _his futon and was out like a light.

I stared at him. "...I'm not even going to wonder how." I quickly climbed under my own covers and fell asleep as well.

**

* * *

**

~11:00AM~

Summer vacation starts today! Woo-hoo! But it's only for a month, which sucks.

Anyways, I dove through our regular flat screen TV and wound up back at that central platform. I stood, took out my green glasses and placed them over my eyes. "You know, I'm never going to get used to seeing clearly here."

Rise was next to enter the world, her own pink glasses adorned on her face. "I know... It's pretty cool!"

Then in came Teddie, back in his bear costume which he hides in his own personal hammerspace. "Okay, let's see..." He quickly walked to the middle of the room and summoned Kintoki-Douji, who placed the helmet back on the bear's head. Teddie concentrated with all his might to find that weird looking boy from last night.

"So, um..." I said, turning to the redhead next to me. "Why're we here again?"

"Just in case a Shadow wanders here and Teddie gets in trouble," Rise answered. "The guy can hardly stand his own in an arm wrestle, so he's nothing against a monster."

"Yeah, that's tr- Wait, an arm wrestle?"

"Heheh, yeah, he challenged me a couple of days ago, but it was probably just so he could hold my hand..."

_...I must learn from this bear._

Teddie exhaled and his Persona vanished. "Yep, he's here alright," he announced. "Right over that-a-way." The guy pointed a chubby paw in some direction; the direction we'd normally have to go in to leave this area.

"Oh, nice!" I congratulated. "Let's go get the others and go there."

* * *

"...As for the rest, we'll just have to ask him face to face."

This sentence, uttered by Yosuke, was the first thing we heard as we made our way to the food court. All of our senpai, plus Kanji, were seated around the special headquarters, talking about the supposed murderer.

As the three of us approached the group, Chie turned around to greet us. "Hey, great timing! How's it going?"

"Good, actually," Rise informed. "Teddie managed to find _exactly_ where the guy is."

"Already?" Kanji raised an eyebrow. "Wow. That was pretty quick."

"Alright, then," Souji spoke up. We all turned our attention to our leader. "So we need to find out who that boy is, and if he is in fact the one the police are after. Once we figure that out, we'll just do what we normally do."

"That's right!" Chie agreed. "If he really is the killer, and he's escaped into the other world, the police don't have a chance of catching him."

"So it's all on us!" Kanji yelled.

"Let's catch the bastard!" I raised my arm up in hopes of victory, and everyone else did the same, our hearts being united by our complete desire to put an end to this case.

**

* * *

DUDE. According to this document, this chapter is considered to be over **_**twenty pages long**_**. Do I love to write that much? I 'unno, really.**

**Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, that was the Aeon Social Link Rank 3. Not sure if it was a good one, but here's to hoping that it is!**

**Anyways, hope to see you guys again! Leave a review or something if you want! Laters!**


	16. Void Quest

_**BEHIND YOU**_

**...What, you thought I was there? Silly reader, I'm **_**ABOVE YOU**_

**...**

**...Did that get you? 'Cause it got me, somehow.**

**SO. Hi there. I see that you've decided to read this chapter as well. I hope you all enjoy it. Anyway, REVIEWS:**

**anon:** Thanks for reading it! Hope you enjoy school (I know I don't).

**Jharoz:** I realize that most S. Links aren't intertwined with the plot, but if you think about it, it wasn't really part of the conversation much. Andy just brought it up, Souji caught word of it and asked him about it. If you want to get technical and say that the two should invite each other out somewhere, then I'll have to retaliate by saying that there may be times where it being part of their convo. is inevitable. Uh, yeah, anyways, thanks for reviewing~!

**Unknown:** Mitsuo's dungeon was a bleepin' pain in the ass. I hated his boss so much. Hopefully the way I plan to conclude it in this story will ease the pain!

**Windmarkd10:** It won't be just Teddie for long - remember? Andy's getting a job there, too. I can't stand the 3D shell of that baby boss. it just makes me want to strangle it (but not in real life, 'cause strangling babies is wrong). And why do you think Andrew and Rise fighting together would cause them trouble? It's not like their fighting styles contradict each other (though their abilities do (fire/lightning vs. ice/wind). Oh, I'm sorry, did you not know Andrew also had Zio powers? Well, it gets announced in this chapter, plus a little something he'll learn on his own _without_ his Persona's help.

**Astrih Konnash:** Um... it might be best if we didn't talk about this. I didn't include him in the swimsuit scene, so why don't we leave it at that? Please and thank you.

**Okay, now that that is out of the way, I'd like you to read this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Andrew is mine; everything else present in this story belongs to their rightful owners.**

**

* * *

~July 27th~**

**~Wednesday~**

**~Time Unknown~**

* * *

"What... the hell...?"

This was the reaction of everyone as Teddie guided us throughout the TV world. What we were all looking at was this giant wall of red, with what looked like black clouds, castle-like buildings, and black circles constantly going outward. There was also a much smaller one beneath that bigger one, though it looked like it was closer to us. But that wasn't the weird part - almost everything was blocky, like old school 8-bit games. The circles looked like they were made out of squares, and the way they moved wasn't smooth, either; they would move a tiny bit, then stop for a second, then another bit out, and so on.

When we got closer to this red wall, we found out that there actually _was_ a castle hidden in the shadows. It was rather big, and it was still in the same 8-bit style as the background. There were strange floating words a little bit in front of it, asking us if we'd like to 'Start' our game or 'Continue' our last save. We had to cross a small, flat bridge over a stream, which was also in the school of old. Blocky trees, walls and stones surrounded us, and a simple brick path was in front of us to lead us to the castle.

"What is this...?" Chie asked. "Some kind of game?"

"Well, he did taunt us, saying 'Try and catch me'..." said Yosuke. "I guess he thinks of all this as a game."

"So, what I said a few weeks ago was true then?" I asked.

"A few weeks ago?" Yukiko said. "What was that?"

"That the killer was thinking this was a game, and that he'd put those images on the Midnight Channel to see if we can keep safe the person shown."

"Ohhh, this pisses me off!" Chie said, stomping the ground in rage. "I hereby sentence him to a hundred kicks to the face!"

"He deserves worse than that!" Rise added, her knuckles turning white around her scythe's pole. "He'll get a thousand kicks to the _balls _from me!"

_...Remind me to never piss her off, please._

_**'Very well, then.'**_

Souji chuckled. "Let the games begin, then." He started walking towards the castle.

"Gotta admit, though..." Yosuke said, following him. "All guys love games."

"You got that right, senpai," I agreed with a smirk, and the rest of us walked behind him.

"And all girls love Teddie!" the bear said slyly. No one paid him any heed, though, and he started to get left behind. "W-Wait!"

Upon closer inspection, the castle was beige, and the entryway had a skull and horns at the top of it. When we reached the opening, Souji stopped and turned around. He looked over each of us, and his eyes stopped on me. "Andrew, you haven't fought in a while. You're on the team."

"Okay," I nodded, twirling my cleaver in my hand.

"Rise-chan, you, too," Souji said, looking at the girl. "You still need some more training done."

"You can count on me, senpai!" Rise cried, shifting her scythe to her other shoulder.

Souji took another quick scan over the rest of the team, each of them with hopeful looks in their eyes. I thought back to the last time the lot of us came into the TV world for actual fighting, and remembered that Chie and Yukiko had been in the first team that was set up. Judging from this, I figured Souji would chose either one of those two.

And it was obvious who he chose. "Yukiko-chan, you're in, too."

The red-clothed second-year smiled at our leader, and said politely, "Thank you, Souji-kun." The other three members just grumbled and slid backwards beside Teddie.

"Alright, let's go in!" I shouted and, with a nod of confirmation by Souji, we all made our way into the castle.

* * *

"_Man_, this is old school..." Yosuke said as we climbed up the entryway stairs. The inside was reminiscent to some kind of medieval dungeon, with torches lining the walls and more skulls in between them. Even the door not too far down the hall was huge, similar to the ones found in these kinds of castles.

And everything was still all blocky and stuff.

"Geez, doesn't this guy play any games from the newer generations?" I asked with a hand to my hip. "It's nostalgic, 'n everything, but c'mon, get with the times, man!"

"It's all so weird..." Yukiko said, looking around the hallway. "Everything's like... cubes or something..."

"That's what you get when you mix 8-bit and real life," Kanji said, looking around as well.

_=BEGIN A NEW QUEST?=_

"Huh!" Yosuke yelled as we all looked around. "The hell was _that_?"

_=YES=_

"Wh-What's going on?" Yukiko asked.

"It must have something to do with this place," Souji answered.

_=PLEASE ENTER YOUR NAME=_

_=MI-TS-UO=_

"Mitsuo?" Chie asked. "Is that the kid's name?"

"Ugh!" Rise looked angry. "This really pisses me off! It's like a game is starting up!"

"So he really _does_ think this is a game!" Kanji yelled. "Senpai, let's go! We gotta take this bastard down!"

"Right, let's go," Souji replied. Everyone nodded and followed him through the dungeon, but we decided to take it slow at first.

It was then that I noticed this place had background music, like Rise's club. Except this one was in the style of an old school song, like the background music in those games. The song then went into something more modern, which made me thankful we wouldn't always have to listen to that weird chip tune.

We came to the first giant door, which opened automatically as we approached it. Everyone jumped back in surprise, but now that I think about it, it made sense - in the old video games, doors would open by themselves whenever the hero was in front of them. _I guess this place is no exception, then._

Inside the room we just opened was a round Shadow, simply floating around the place. It didn't seem to notice or even hear the door open, despite it having its own sound effect.

"Oh, oh oh!" Rise gasped, pointing to the blob. "There's one! I'll get it!" Without an 'okay' from our leader, the redhead quickly dashed off for the Shadow. Raising her scythe high in the air, she had it come crashing down onto the Shadow, which morphed into two giant snakes. Souji, Yukiko and myself ran up behind her and faced the reptiles with her.

"Rise-chan, Andrew, you two team up!" Souji called. "Yukiko-chan, you're with me."

"Roger!" we all cried, and my classmate and I darted towards out enemy. Before I could do anything, Rise once again went for a slice at the snake, effectively bringing it to the floor. It quickly got up and dodged my own attack, however, and unleashed a bright green fog upon us.

"Wh-" Rise coughed. "What's this?"

"Andy, Rise-chan!" Teddie called to us. "There's a bigger chance for you guys to get infected with something now!"

"Thanks for the heads up!" I yelled back to him, and jumped away from the snake as it nose dived into the spot I was standing. I sliced through my Persona card and felt Wyvern being released from my body. The dragon unleashed a full blast of Agilao onto the snake, but it didn't do much to it. "Dammit!"

"I've got it!" With one arm, Rise swung her scythe horizontally, and split open her own card. Himiko appeared above her, and with a spin of its sword, a Bufula jutted up from underneath it. It hit the snake dead-on, and it slumped to the ground with a shriek. "Andrew-kun!" Rise yelled, looking back at me. "Let's get it!"

"Right!" I replied, and the two of us dashed for the creature. I swung my cleaver at it a nice few times, and jumped away as it began to stir. Rise did as well, and when the fog cleared away, the snake was standing once again. "Huh? I thought that would do it!"

"Keep going!" Rise yelled, and she once again summoned Himiko, this time getting her to use-

"Since when can you use both Bufu _and_ Garu skills?" I asked her.

"I've had them since I joined!" Rise answered. The snake was blown upwards by a green blast of wind, and this time it actually decided to die when it hit the ground. Rise sighed in relief, leaning forward with her arms supported by her knees. "We did it," she said.

"Yeah, nice job!" I congratulated.

She looked up at me, grinned, and stood up straight again, "Let's go on. Our senpai are done with their fight, too."

I glanced over to Souji and Yukiko, who were currently talking with Chie and Yosuke. They seemed a little winded, which probably meant they just finished their fight as well.

Kanji and Teddie then walked up to us. "Awesome job, guys!" Teddie said when he walked up to us.

"Thanks!" Rise and I said in unison.

"You're a pretty fighter, even though it's only your second trip here," Kanji said. "I thought you'd be a bigger clutz than that."

"What do you mean by that...?" Rise asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, nothin'."

"Okay, let's move on," Souji yelled over to us. The four of us nodded and followed behind him and the others. I was walking at the speed of the music's beat, since I enjoyed any kind of tune, but the song was starting to get on someone else's nerves.

"Argh, that music's gettin' annoying," Kanji complained. "Any way to turn that shit off?"

"Doubt it," Yosuke said. "Rise-chan's place didn't have any 'stop' button for its music, and I don't think there's one here, either. Also, old school games didn't usually have options to turn down the music, so we're probably stuck listening to it."

"Damn," the big guy muttered. "Senpai, can't you turn your music up louder than this?"

"Ahh, my iPod's not that loud, even without the headphones," Yosuke answered.

"Man!" Kanji then turned to me, "Andrew, you've got one too, right?"

"Uhh... I don't think it'll be loud enough to drown out this music, but it's worth a shot." I retrieved my own iPod and detached the earbuds. Turning the volume up to its highest, I hit the play button.

And then suddenly the whole place started blasting with my current song.

_Hanate! Kokoro ni kizanda yume wo mirai sae okizari ni shite_

_Genkai nado shiranai imi nai_

_Kono chikara ga hikari chirasu sono saku ni haruka na moi wo_

"A Certain Scientific Railgun?" Yosuke asked. "I didn't know you watched that show, Andrew."

"Uh, well, yeah..." I scratched my head. "I haven't really watched it much, but the song's just so catchy I had to get it."

"Does it even come on TV anymore?"

"No, I used to watch it online, since it wasn't localized in English at the time."

_Looking!_

_The blitz loop this planet to search way._

_Only my railgun can shoot it. Imasugu_

_Karada juu wo hikari no hayasa de_

_Kake megutta tashikana yokan_

"This is a _lot_ better," Kanji smiled. "Though there better be more songs on there."

"Don't worry, I got plenty. Not sure how many of them you all will like, though..."

"Hey, didn't you say before that you were listening to some of _my_ songs?" Rise asked, eyeing me.

"Yeah, but those are CDs. I don't have a computer or a laptop to rip them onto my iPod."

"Ohhhhh. Okay then."

And so we continued on without ever questioning just how the hell this place managed to pick up my songs. We listened to plenty of others, including some Touhou songs. Kanji didn't really like a lot of the ones that were played, but we managed to get through them without much hassle.

We came to another door, this one leading into a room that had a small stream of water going through it. There weren't any Shadows in it, but there was a small treasure chest at the far end of the room.

"A chest?" Rise asked. "What's something like that doing here?"

"They're all over these places," Chie explained. "Though how they get here is a mystery to us."

"Don't tell me we're gonna go investigate _that_, too..." I moaned.

"No, we won't," Souji answered. "We already have our hands full with one case, so there's no need to do anymore than that."

"Now that I think about it," Yosuke mumbled, walking towards the chest. "It actually fits this castle, since treasure chests are common in games."

"Oh, I never thought of that!" I replied. "Yeah, that does make sense."

"Andrew, change the song," Kanji said, looking up at the ceiling. "It's in English, I can't understand it."

"Bah, fine. Which one do you want?" I asked, taking out my music player.

"Don't just ask _him_," Chie said. "There's more than two people listening to the music, you know."

"Ooh, put on that one song," Yukiko requested. "What was it called again? 'Great Fairy Wars'?"

"Oh, that one," I said. "I know which one you mean."

"No, not that one!" Kanji's brow furrowed. "I don't like that song, put on some rock and roll or something."

"I want to listen to that song with the character's name in the title," Chie said. "From that one book, something about there being none...?"

"'U.N. Owen was her' is what you're thinking of," I answered.

"Play that song with the loud voices!" Teddie said.

"There're too many songs with loud voices, Ted," I said. "You're gonna hafta be more specific than that."

"Ugh, I don't know _how _to be more specific!"

"What're we talking about?" Yosuke asked as he walked back up to us.

"What song we want to listen to," Souji answered. "What was in the chest?"

"Ah, nothin' much," Yosuke said. "Just a Soul Drop."

Souji frowned. "That's not that good..."

"Soul Drop?" Rise asked, looking towards the two.

"It can recover our energy once you drink it," Souji explained, "Although it only does so much."

"Oh, I see."

"Put on that Only My Railgun again," Kanji said.

"Dude, we listened to that, like, five times already," Chie said to her underclassmen. "Put on Beloved Tomboyish Girl! I love how it sounds."

"It sounds _stupid_, to me," Kanji muttered. Chie either ignored him or never heard his words.

"I'm still wanting to listen to the Fairy Wars song," Yukiko said with a pout.

"Okay, that's it," I sighed. "You guys figure out for yourselves, I got some business to take care of." I placed the iPod in Rise's hands and started walking over to the stream.

"Business?" Rise asked, turning around to look at me. "What kind of business...?""Personal business," I answered. "You guys may want to turn around or something." I strolled over to the stream and unzipped my fly.

"OH, _GOD_, ANDREW-KUN!" Chie yelled. The others either gasped, gagged or laughed, and I immediately heard several sets of foot steps (and one squeaky set) run out of the room as I let it flow.

"Hey, the splashes are blocky, too."

* * *

"That... was gross," Rise deadpanned as I stepped outside of the room.

"Mother nature called, I couldn't help it," I said with a chuckle. I listened to the music as it played, "I see you guys've chosen Fate of Sixty Years to listen to."

"Yeah... We couldn't decide, so Souji-kun had to choose for us," Chie said, tapping her foot. "It's really good, in my opinion."

"'S alright," Kanji said. "I'd prefer something a little more... Ah, what's the word I'm looking for?"

"'Rocky-and-rollier'?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, somethin' like that."

"Alright, then, now that we've had our break," Souji said, looking at the group, "shall we continue?"

"Yep!" Everyone nodded, and with his own, Souji led the way.

Rise quickly walked up next to me. "Here's your... uh, iPod back."

"Thanks," I said, taking it from her and putting it in my pocket. Everything was quiet once again, minus the loud tunes blasting through the walls. I then started to wonder how the music was actually doing that. I'm willing to bet this place didn't have wireless internet connection, nor would it be able to just scan my iPod.

_Maybe that guy farther up has something to do with it...?_

'_**What I believe is that the boy may have his own music player, and that his enjoyment of listening to it may have some influence over your own.'**_

_That won't corrupt mine, would it?_

'_**I doubt it.'**_

_Okay, good. That doesn't exactly explain it, but I could care less. 'Long as there's music._

This time the door we opened showed us the room with the stairs leading upwards, and so up we went. Another room to our right gave us a new Shadow batch to fight, so I declared my rushing up to it and sliced it open. Four giant arms with swords decided to pop up this time, and Souji ordered us to take one each.

I stared at the stone arm and cracked my neck in preparation. "You're goin' _down_!" I grinned evilly and unleashed a head-on Fatal End. It still stood, which I expected, and it tried to smash its sword onto my head. I dodged it, and it got stuck in the ground. I smirked at the opportunity and brought my cleaver down onto its arm with full strength. It wasn't exactly stone-like, since I actually got my cleaver a nice ways through it, though it didn't completely cut its arm off. The Shadow managed to get its sword out from the ground, and swung at me horizontally. I jumped over it just in time, and had Wyvern hit it with a burst of fire. It was still alive, and once again tried for a sweep at my feet. It actually got me this time, and I was knocked over onto the ground.

"Ow!" I yelled as my head hit the stone floor. It hurt a lot, but I managed to actually roll away at the last second before the arm crashed its sword into the ground at full force. "Oh ho, you're dead!" I summoned Wyvern above me, and had him use Rampage to completely decimate the fiend. The purple icor flew around me, but it didn't seem like any of it stuck to me.

Without a pause, I looked over to Rise. She was still fighting her opponent, and seemed to be struggling somewhat. "Rise-chan, hang on!" I yelled, and quickly ran over to her aid. She didn't look over to me, which was probably the best thing to do, since the giant arm she was facing tried to plant its sword into her hair. I leapt into the sky (again, not that high) and forced my cleaver through the arm. It only left a mark, but then the stone structure swung it's sword at me. I quickly hopped away from the swing, and noticed Rise charging for the Shadow. She swung her weapon right in the middle of its arm. It cut right in two, and quickly disappeared.

I sighed of relief, then turned to face Rise. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Rise said quickly. "How about you?"

"I'm good," I said, but shook my leg a bit. "My leg's a bit sore, but I can manage."

"Okay, good," Rise smiled gently. We turned our heads to see Souji and Yukiko just finishing up their fights, then continued on our way.

* * *

At the third floor, there was a creeping-crawling Shadow we fought, which Souji surprised with a slash to the back. The sludge transformed into two giants with one eye on their heads, strapped upside-down to these weird wheel-like things. As with last time, Souji had Rise and I team up to fight one of the two. Before either of us even had a chance to charge the thing, it roared and unleashed a full heaping of lightning on me. I yelped in surprise as it came crashing onto me.

...Why, yes, I _did _scream from surprise, not from the pain, because there actually _was_ no pain. I got hit by a lightning strike, and it actually made me feel more revitalised.

"What the-!" I was shocked at this discovery. "That didn't hurt at all!"

"Huh...?" Rise was wide-eyed. "H-How-?"

"Never mind that for now!" Teddie yelled from farther behind. "There's still a Shadow there, you know!"

The two of us turned back to our opponent, just as it reared itself up for an attack. We were luckily able to dodge the swing of its wheel-thing, and I was able to use Sukunda on it before it could try and try to attack again. Now that it had slowed down a bit, Rise summoned Himiko to use a move called Torrent Shot that (would you believe) shot torrents at the monster. It struck twice, but the creature still stood.

"You're mine, now!" I shouted as I dashed for the Shadow. Bringing my arms to my side, I swiped my cleaver through the Shadow, getting a good slice on it but not doing enough damage to kill it. The cyclops decided to use another Zionga again, this time learning from its mistake and aiming for Rise.

It struck her with the same amount as force that hit me, but it somehow managed to get her halfway across the room. She screeched as she flew, and landed on the floor with a sickening _thud_.

"R..." Now I was wide-eyed. "_RISE-CHAN!_" If it weren't for the giant behind me, I would've ran straight for her. I turned to it with anger and hatred in my eyes. "You _BASTARD!_" I quickly summoned Wyvern with a yell, causing the biggest Agilao I've made to date. Needless to say, the cyclops vanished in an instant, and the moment it did I rushed over to my friend's side. "R-Rise-chan, are you okay?"

She looked out of it - even from a single Zionga attack, she was already down and out. There were small sparks of electricity flowing over her body, and occasionally she'd twitch from the shock. The lightning strike didn't leave any burns or scars, but I could tell she was in pain. Hell, my own head was throbbing because of it.

"I..." Rise struggled to speak. "I... s-should be al-alright..." With my help, she slowly and carefully sat up as the non-fighters ran over to her side.

"Rise-chan!" Chie quickly knelt on the other side of the redhead and helped her stand up. "Are you able to walk?"

"I-I think s-so..." Rise answered. Our senpai let go of her, and to test herself the redhead strutted ahead a bit. She twitched from the electricity once more and promptly collapsed face-first into the floor.

"Rise-chan!" I was at her side again, and quickly yet carefully flipped her over onto her back. She wasn't unconscious, but she was in total pain. I did my best to ignore my own pain in my head and turned back to the others with desperation in my eyes. "She needs healing, _now_!"

"Konohana-Sakuya!" We all turned to the other end of the room, where Souji and Yukiko had just finished their fight. Yukiko summoned her Persona and cast Diarama on the girl. Once she did, the pain in my head completely vanished, which meant that Rise was fine now. I sighed in relief as she sat herself up with little difficulty. She shook her head, but that only made her grip it in pain. I also winced slightly, though my own head didn't hurt _that_ much.

"Ow ow ow..." Rise groaned. She opened an eye and looked at me. "H-Hey, you okay?"

I nodded, "What about you?"

"Fine, now..." I offered her a hand, which she happily took, and I helped her up. She actually managed to stand by herself now. She sighed, put a delicate hand to her head and said, "_Wow_, that hurt a lot..."

"I'd say," I said. "You looked completely gone when it hit you. I'm just glad you're alright now."

She blushed, but quickly looked away. "I-I'll have to be extra careful from now on," Rise said, completely ignoring my sincerity. She looked to our gray-haired leader, "So! Are we ready to move on, then?"

"You sure you don't want to rest for a little while?" Souji asked with concern in his voice.

Rise shook her head slightly, just to make sure it didn't hurt. "Nuh-uh, I'm totally fine now."

Souji was hesitant, but decided to believe her words. "Alright then. Let's move on, everyone." We all agreed and left the room to continue or trek through the castle. I'd frequently look over to Rise to see if she was holding up well, and every time I did she'd insist that she was fine. I accepted her assertions and continued walking.

'_**Andrew, I have learned of a new ability. It also explains how you were able to absorb the Zionga from earlier.'**_

_Oh? What is it? ...W-Wait, don't tell me-_

'_**Yes. I've learned Zionga myself, so you're able to use lightning abilities now.'**_

_...HELL. YES._

'_**That... was not the reaction I had been expecting.'**_

_I have a question. You're able to use those magic skills, right?_

'_**Correct.'**_

_And you're essentially _me_, right?_

'_**That is true.'**_

_So... does that mean, like, I _myself_ can use Zionga?_

**_'You already are.'_**

_No, no, that's not what I mean. Am I able to produce magic through my own body, without your help?_

'_**...I never thought of it before. Though I am not too sure that you are able to, considering that the others always use their own Personas.'**_

_Well, maybe they just haven't tried yet. Lemme ask them._"Hey, guys?" I quickly asked. Everyone stopped walking and turned to me. _Oh shit, full attention._ "C-Can you guys, like, use your magic skills _without_ summoning your Personas?"

Everyone blinked. "I... never thought of that before," Souji commented first. "Though I doubt we'd be able to."

"Tomoe says that it _may_ be possible," Chie spoke. "But if it is, using the spells may be difficult..."

"I'll at least try," I said. Everyone hesitantly nodded, but otherwise backed away, just in case something actually _did_ happen. _Okay then, what should I do?_

'_**How should I know? Just... imagine your spiritual energy flowing through your arm, perhaps?'**_

_Okay, gimme a sec..._ I did as Wyvern instructed and imagined blue electric lines running through my veins. After a moment, it didn't work, so I somehow tried to force my energy through my arm. I don't think I was really doing that, though; if anything, I was only straining my arms muscles. I don't exactly know what I should've been feeling at the time, but it was as if something was being forced out through my hand...

Then my arm sparked.

"_WHOA_!" The simple face that I momentarily produced _electricity from my body_ caused me to jump back in surprise. I hadn't known that _that_ was the correct way to do it. Everyone else gasped at the sight of lightning coming from my arm, but their posture quickly came back as they looked at their own arms/hands. Ideas must be forming.

"You..." Yosuke was wide-eyed. "You _can_ use your powers by yourself!"

"It seems that way!" I replied, not taking my eyes off my arm. I tried to do it again, to see if I could make it stay longer. After a few more seconds I was able to release a few charges of lightning, but it was nothing more than a simple shock, really. "I'll have to practice this..." I then remembered that I also had the Agilao skill, so this time I willed for fire to appear from my hand. This one took a little longer and a bit more strain, but I finally managed to get a small flicker of flame going at the tip of my index finger.

"That's... amazing!" Rise said, amazed. She walked over to me, looked at the flame, then at her own hand. "Maybe..." Her face scrunched as she put effort into pushing the energy through her arm. Sure enough, within a matter of seconds, her hand started emitting a tiny swirl of green wind. "W-Whoa!" Her surprise caused the Garu she created to disappear as fast as it came up, and the loudness of her voice caused me to lose concentration. My small flame flickered away into nothing, but I wasn't sad - I had actually discovered something that the rest of the team hadn't.

Now everyone was trying it out for themselves - Yukiko also managed to get a small flame going while Chie's hand suddenly produced a small block of ice. Yosuke had a small cyclone of wind in the palm of his hand, while Kanji's arm crackled with electricity. Souji was also trying this out, although he had more control over his abilities - the flame in his hand was a _lot_ bigger than what Yukiko and I had made. That flame quickly vanished and was replaced with a larger ice block than Chie's.

The short-haired girl saw this and muttered, "Show-off..."

Teddie was staring at us in amazement. "Wow... You're _all_ show-offs..."

* * *

We eventually decided to stop testing ourselves and our powers, and kept going up and up towards the top floor. Souji had deemed us unable to actually use our powers ourselves in actual combat, and claimed that we needed to practice using them before we'll actually be able to fight with them.

We made it to the fifth floor eventually, and us in the fighting party were out of it; we were running low on strength _and_ energy, so after an agreement from our leader, we chose to take a break in a vacant room which had a similar structure like the one where I... uh, 'went.'

Everyone sat at the far corner of the room in a circle. We were all hungry, but no one had thought about brining any food with them. _Whoever's idea it was to not think of food will be shot. Someday. Eventually._

"Damn, I'm starved..." Kanji mumbled as we rested. "Nobody's got anything to eat?"

"Nope, sorry," was the collective response. Kanji groaned again, but said nothing.

His eyebrow started twitching, then he looked at me. "Yo, Andrew," he tried his best to remain calm. "Ya mind turning that off now? I'm getting a headache."

"Hm?" I guess I was too used to the music going to actually realize it was still playing. "Oh, yeah, sure." I quickly got out my iPod and paused the song, which stopped the music completely, even the default 8-bit song.

"Ahh, there we go..." Kanji sighed, lying down on his back.

"Hey, partner," Yosuke said to Souji, "what're your plans for the summer?"

"Oh, that's right!" Chie grinned. "We haven't even talked about what we'll do for summer break yet!"

"I won't be doing much, just hanging out with friends," Souji replied. "Maybe make some money and go fishing or something."

"You all know what _I'll_ be doing!" Teddie grinned.

"Yeah," Yosuke replied. "You'll be helping me with slave labour."

"W-WHAT?"

I decided to tune out the gang at this point, and decided to focus on my arm. A bit more strain to my muscle, and it sparked with a Zio again. Just looking at the currents in my arm got me thinking - I may be able to shoot a coin at supersonic speeds, similar to Misaka Mikoto in the Railgun anime. If I learned how to do that, I would be one happy dude.

"Andrew, stop that," Souji called out, waking me from my thoughts. "You don't know what could happen. It could randomly spark every one of us here."

"Ah, sorry." I stopped forcing the energy through my arm and the electricity stopped entirely. I lid down on my back like Kanji and, as the other's conversations went on, I started to doze off slightly. I was just about to take a quick nap when all of a sudden-

"When's yours, Andrew-kun?"

"H-Huh? Wha...?" My eyes opened and I looked up.

Rise was staring at me, but then she started stifling a giggle. "What, were you about to fall asleep?"

"U-Uh..." I quickly sat up and wound up yawning. "N-No, I was just resting. I'm actually a bit wore out from all of our fights so far today..."

Rise's smile turned into a small frown. "I know what you mean. I feel like dozing off myself..."

I chuckled and said, "So, what were you saying just then?"

She blinked. "Huh...? Oh, right! When's your birthday?"

"My... birthday?" She smiled again and nodded. "Um, September 17th. Why?"

"Oh, no, nothing, we just all go into a conversation about our birth dates."

"Well, when's yours?"

"June 1st."

"J-" I blinked. "So... you're older than me, then?"

She never realized that, but when she did, she grinned. "I guess I am."

"Wow, irony much..." I sighed.

"Huh? What do you mean by that...?"

"It's just that you're older, yet I'm taller."

"Wha- That can't be helped! You're not from Japan, so it's no wonder you're taller than me!"

As soon as I opened my mouth to form a comeback, my stomach growled. I looked down at it, "Shut up you!" Rise raised an eyebrow, blinked, but than started laughing. I looked back up at her in confusion. "Was that funny?"

"Y-Yes!" she said in between laughs. "The way you said it was funny! Hahaha!"

I sighed. I honestly didn't think it was laugh-worthy, but hey, I've been wrong before. My stomach growled again, this time with more vigour. I groaned, "Argh, I'm huuungry!"

Souji heard my complaint and said, "A lot of us are." He looked at us all, "Did you guys want to call it quits for now? I mean, we still have a nice few days before the fog sets in."

"Yeah, that's true," Yukiko replied. "The weather report said that it won't rain for a long time now."

"I'm willing to give up the search for now," Yosuke added. "As long as we're able to reach the guy the next time we come here."

"What, are we seriously leaving?" Chie was shocked. "I mean, there's still half of us here to fight!"

"I realize that," Souji replied. "But you must understand, even I have my limits. And plus..." he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and flipped it open, "we've been in here for a few hours already. It's already five o'clock."

"Seriously?" Chie asked. "It didn't seem _that_ long..."

"Time flies when you're having fun, right?" I asked.

"Hm, yeah, that's true..."

Souji turned to my red-headed friend, "Rise-chan, if you don't mind helping us get out of here...?"

The girl cheerfully bobbed her head. "You got it, senpai! One quick trip back downstairs, coming right up!" She hopped up from her sitting position and stood in the middle of us all. She closed her eyes and after a moment a bright light sprouted from her. We were all enveloped in it, and when it faded we were all sitting in a circle outside the castle.

"Wow, that thing works wonders," Yukiko said, astonished. We all stretched as we stood up and started walking back towards the entrance when I realized something.

"Oh, _shit_, Kanji's not here!"

~We all re-entered the castle and made it to the fifth floor in no time at all. We searched in every room that we saw, and eventually found Kanji in a random on. The big guy was sound asleep, as if nothing had ever happened. With a swift axe kick to the face from Chie, he was up at his feet again. Rise used Traesto a second time, now bringing _all_ of us to the entrance of the castle.

After getting back to the stack of TVs and going each of us going through them, we exited Junes to feel a wave of heat blast us in our faces.

"Dude, it's boiling out!" Yosuke cried as we began to fan ourselves with our hands. "When the hell did it get so warm?"

"We've been in there a few hours," Souji said. "I'm not surprised the weather changed like this so quickly."

"Makes me wish we were still there," I said. "I'm melting here..."

After complaining some more, we said our good-byes to one another and made our way back to our homes. As the Amagi Inn group (Yukiko, Teddie, and I) made their way back to their residence, Teddie delicately asked Yukiko a question.

"Yuki-chan, what number's you're room?"

"Wh... Wh... WHAT?"

I sighed, "Ted, you didn't have to ask her like _that_..."

**

* * *

~July 28th~**

**~Thursday~**

**~2:00AM~**

* * *

I found myself in Wyvern's dream world again, but something was off. Namely, the dragon wasn't here. Baffled, I looked around to see if I could see him. "Wyvern!" I called out, but got no response. _He's not here...?_ I gazed upon the surrounding area the familiar fog, but for some reason it seemed different. As if a portion of it had cleared away.

I looked down at myself when I realized I was feeling a _tiny_ bit of a chill, and realized I was only in a pair of boxers. I just stared at them in disbelief. "...So. Whatever I'm wearing gets transported here, too, then. But... Why am I even here?"

And there was that tugging feeling again. I looked behind me to see Rise facing away from me and _HOLY DINOSAURS SHE WEARS PINK PANTIES._

Well, both those and her bra were pink, and I figured she must've decided to sleep only like that because of the sudden heat wave.

And now the two of us were here, together, in our undergarments.

I can't tell if the world is in love with me or hates my guts.

Rise just realized that I was right behind her. She spun around and said, "Oh, Andrew-KUN!" She gasped when she said 'kun', and quickly turned back around. "Wh-Why are you dressed like that!" She yelled with her back to me.

"You tell me why you're like that, first!" I said, also facing away from her. "No - why are we _both_ like this!" Actually, that was more like an impulse than anything. I knew the reason, it's just that came out before I could speak it.

"I don't know! It was hot in my room, even with my fan going! I had to sleep like this to stop from getting too warm!" She paused and seemed to calm down a bit. "And why are we even here? Where's Himiko?"

"Wyvern's not here, either," I replied, also regaining my senses. "There must be a reason why we came here."

"And why we're dressed the way we are..."

"I think that's just 'cause we fell asleep like this. Every other time I came here, I was wearing the clothes I already had on."

"Ahh, yeah... The same thing's with me, now that I think about it."

By now the two of us had completely calmed down, but we still hadn't dared to turn around and face each other. Modesty, in my case, but for her, I wasn't sure.

"So, why're _you_ turned around?" Rise asked me, as if reading my thoughts.

"Huh? Wouldn't it be rude for me to just... y'know, stare?"

"Oh, c'mon, Andrew-kun, as if that'd bother me. I've had tens of thousands of people ogle me before; another pair of eyes isn't going to do anything." She said that dejectedly. I took that as a sign that she wasn't proud to say that, but who would, really?

"I'm still not gonna turn around," I said. "It just doesn't seem right to me."

A small pause, and I heard Rise giggle. "You're saying that now, even though you insisted on coming in with me to that swimsuit store a few weeks ago."

"Well, you were offering then," I said with a smirk. "This time was unintentional. And plus..." I felt my face turn red, "...there's more skin showing."

"Wow. I never thought you were so modest," Rise sounded impressed. "Although the time back in Okina was different."

I sighed, yet I was amused. "Yeah, I know." I took this time to sit down on whatever it was I was standing on - there wasn't a floor to this place, yet it felt like I was stepping on some sort of marble, like the kind you'd find in fancy buildings. "Hey, you said your birthday was June 1st, right?"

"Yep."

"Huh. Guess I'll have to go get you something to make up for missing it."

She chuckled. "We didn't even know each other back then. Heck, I don't even think you were in Japan when I had my party."

"Haha, no, probably not. But I think I was on my way here at the time. Travelling across an entire country, then taking a ship to another takes a _long_ time."

"I know, right? I usually travel by bus whenever I have to go to another city, unless it's too far away. Then I'm allowed to take my airplane."

"Y-You have a plane?"

"Well, not really. It belongs to my manager, and now that I'm not in show biz anymore..."

"Oh... right."

"Hey, what do you want for _your_ birthday?"

"Mine? I'm not sure right at this moment... Maybe a game system?"

"Uhh... That may be a little too expensive."

"Well... Um... Honestly, I'm not really sure. I'll have to give it some thought."

"Just make sure it's not too hard to find. I don't want to have to go through every store there is just to find it."

"If it's difficult to find, then just get something else. Don't do something you don't want to do because of me."

"Oh, really? Then I won't get you anything at all."

"Wha?"

She started laughing, and because it's contagious, I did as well. She spoke again, "By the way, did you know that Yosuke-senpai's birthday was the 22nd of June?"

"Huh? It was? W-Wait, so I missed it?"

"Apparently. Though he didn't have a party. I think he mentioned a gift from Chie-senpai, but I'm probably not remembering right. Last time I checked she hates his guts."

"Mm... It's too bad I missed it. I'll just have to make sure I'm aware of the next person's birthday. And hopefully I'm still here to celebrate yours, too."

"I hope you are, too! I'm wishing that everyone will be." A small pause. "Oh! By the way, how did you know you could use your magic without Wyvern's help?"

"Kinda fast to change the subject there, huh?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Rise giggled, but I continued, "Honestly, I didn't know. I just tried it out and it actually worked."

"Really? What got you thinking about trying it?"

"Anime."

"Anime?"

"Yeah. That first song that came on in that game castle was the opening song to an anime. The main character of that show uses electricity as her main form of attacking, and when Wyvern told me about him learning Zionga, I just had to see if I could use it myself."

"And when you tried, it worked. Not just for you, but everyone else can use their skills on their own."

"Yeah. Though Souji-senpai has to be a party-pooper and not let us use them in battle..."

"I know... It'd be nice to at least try them once and see how they work..."

"Though, I guess he does have a point. I wasn't producing a lot of flame when I tried my Agilao, and your Garula seemed a little small..."

"Ah... You may be right."

It was silent again, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. I looked upwards, which looked the same as straight ahead, right, left and down. There wasn't really much to look at, besides the fog, yet I didn't know what else to talk about.

Going against my original thoughts, I decided to take a peek at my half-naked friend. Slowly and cautiously, I turned my head to see that she, too, had sat down. Not only that, but it was then that I realized that her hair wasn't tied in their twin tails - it was completely down. The sight of her red hair flowing down to her back was... breathtaking, honestly. How I managed to not notice her it down, yet still able to tell the color of her bra, while looking at her back, is something I can't explain.

"Hmm?" At that exact moment, Rise, too, turned her head around to look at me. She blinked, then dawned a playful smile. "I thought you said you weren't gonna look...?"

"Um!" I zipped my head around quickly, already feeling the heat in my face. "I-I just... uh... er, um..." I sighed and hung my head. "I got nothin'." The only thing Rise did was laugh. "This is, uh... This is the first time I've seen you with your hair down."

Her giggles stopped. "It is? I was sure that I had it down before..."

"Not from what I remember, and I remember stuff well."

"Uh... Hmm... Oh! The first time we talked, in here - my hair was down then."

"It was?" I thought back to then, over a month ago. When Rise and I met in this 'dream realm,' did she really have her hair down?

...

_Oh, that's right she did!_

"Yeah, you did! I remember now. I guess I was too caught up in actually meeting you for the first time to notice it."

"Heh, yeah. That was one strange nap, winding up here all of a sudden." All was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again. This time, however, her voice was a lot lower pitched. "Hey, Andrew-kun..."

"Yes?"

"I've... been thinking about this for a little while." Before going on, I heard some shuffling coming from her direction. My guess was that she was turning around. "Um... You know, I don't really care if you see me like this."

"Uh... Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You already saw my Shadow before, right?"

"Oh... that's true, I guess_._" I, too, turned around, and got a good look at her bare stomach, arms and legs. If this wasn't a dream I'd be feeling blood running out of my nose right now.

"I've decided..." Rise continued, "to _not_ go back into show business."

"You..." I blinked. "R-Really?"

"Yeah. I know I said that I'd be going back soon, but I think it's time I stopped being an idol."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You sounded like you were having fun in your songs..."

"W-Well, yeah... But being famous just takes its tolls on you... And plus-" her face reddened, "-I'm enjoying myself here... with you..." Her eyes shot open and she covered her mouth, but she said nothing further.

"Huh?" My faced flushed, too. "Y-You don't mean... 'With you... and the others'...?"

"U-Uh..." She looked nervous and embarrassed, but after a few seconds she took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye. "Well, yeah, I'm having fun with everyone here. But..." she glanced away and whispered, "y-you especially."

I was _just_ able to hear that.

And when I did, my heart did four triple backflips, if that's even possible.

"Do... Do you mean that?" I asked.

Rise looked up at me and smile sweetly, though her face was completely red. "Yeah. I do."

I couldn't help but grin. "I... I like spending time with you, too." I paused and thought for a second, then said, "But... why _me_?"

She looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, I'm not the only person on the team. I-I'm not complaining at all, but why is it that you like spending time with me more than the others?"

She quickly thought it over. "Well... I guess it's because I know you best, and you've spent more time with me than anyone else on the team. And not only that, you're kind, sweet, and you're always helping me..." Her smile grew. "I know that we've only known each other for about a month, but... I can easily say that you're one of my best friends here."

_Wow. Is it hot in here, or is my face burning up again?_ "I-I... I think the same. You weren't the first person I met here, and yet, I like spending time with you the most." I paused. _Dammit I need to say more!_ "A-And... You're funny, and cute-" she blushed at this, "-and... it's just so much fun being with you." _Oh, God,_ _I'm about to overheat._

Rise's smile turned into a big grin. "Th-Thanks." An idea hit her, "Oh, hey, how about we go out to Okina again when we wake up? Summer holidays started yesterday, so we could probably celebrate it by going out there!"

"Hmm... Today, huh?" I folded my arms, thought about it, and frowned. "...S-Sorry, I can't. I was planning on going to Junes today so I could try to get that job..."

Her smile fell. "O-Oh... Is that so...?"

I quickly looked back at her. "But how about after we get that guy out of the TV world? Once we rescue him or whatever and bring him to the police, we can go out to Okina then!"

She took the time to consider it, and gradually her smile returned. "Yeah... That should be okay."

"So, should I get anyone else to go with us? Like Ted or someone?"

"Ah... It... doesn't really matter, I guess. You can if you want, but if you just want the two of us to go..."

"J-Just the two of us?" _Dammit, my face's red again, isn't it?_

"Yeah. That's not a problem, is it?"

"N-No, of course it isn't! I... was just surprised that that was an option."

"Well, yeah, it's an option. You can choose whether or not to invite other people, can't you?"

"Huh... It is, isn't it?"

Rise was about to say something else, but suddenly, the area started shaking violently, as if there was an earthquake going on. But that shouldn't be possible, considering we were basically in my mind (or was it hers? I'm not really sure).

"_Andy! C'mon, wake up!"_

"Wait, was that Teddie?" Rise asked aloud, keeping her balance with her hands to the ground.

"I-I think it is!" I replied, but before anything else could happen, my eyes started filling with white.

~"GAH!"

_THONK_

"OWW!"

I wound up flying back onto my pillow again, clutching my forehead in pain. Without removing my hands I cracked open an eye to see Ted lying on the floor, whining in pain. He had his own hands covering his forehead and, using my (inexistent) analytical skills, I figured out that we hit each other.

"Ai yi yi..." I moaned. "What the hell were you doing, Ted...?"

"I was just trying to wake you up," the bear responded, not taking his hands from his face. "You had this huge smile on your face, and I wanted to know what you were dreaming of."

"What I was... dreaming of...? Uh..." I blinked. "It... wasn't something that'd interest you."

Teddie quickly shot up. "Wha! Now that really interests me!"

_Aw, shit._ I sighed and glanced at the clock. _10:30, huh? I slept in..._ "So, Ted, are you ready to go now?"

"Huh? Go where?"

"To Junes, remember? You're going to work and I'm going to get a part time job?"

"Ohh! That's right, that's right! I completely forgot about that! Hang on, let me get ready!" Teddie leapt off the floor, grabbed his fancy clothes and dashed for the bathroom.

I chuckled at his enthusiasm, but then recalled my dream. "The two of us, huh...?" I smiled. "So now it really _will_ be like a date..."

**

* * *

Hey, welcome to the bottom of this page. Was this chapter good or was it not? I don't know myself, so you guys gotta answer that for me! In the form of reviews, comments, questions or criticism. I don't care which, just share your thoughts!**

**I was originally going to keep going on with this chapter, but then I figured it'd be too long. It's _OVER NINE THOUSAND (read: ten thousand)_ words, and I've already covered a lot of stuff here, so I decided to save the next stuff until next time.**

**Oh! And just to let you know, Andy's and Rise's next trip to Okina will be important. No, no, not because they confess (that'll be later), but something serious happens there. 'What will that be,' the author hears you ask. 'You'll just have to wait and see,' he replies with delight.**

**Oh, that's right, nearly forgot! In the last couple chapters, there was the topic of racial abuse on Andrew. This was not my idea - it was Casey W's. I forgot to mention this in the last chapter (and admittedly this one), so a shout out and thank you to him!**

**So, yeah. See ya.**


	17. Andrew the Hero

**WASSUP HOME DOGS.**

**This chapter was out quicker than you'd think, eh? I know how you feel, "Wow this guy must have no life if he's just throwing chapters with over 10K words in it." Well, I know how you feel. I'm even surprised myself I was able to write this so quickly.**

**Okay, so here are my replies to your reviews.**

**Casey W:** Ahh, right. Hopefully the teensy-tiny modifications I made to Souji's personality are alright. I knew I couldn't just have him act and talk completely differently than before, so I made just a _few_ changes - nothing too drastic. I'm praying it works well.

**Astrih Konnash:** The idea to change the music just came to me randomly. I don't mind his theme so much, but I'm reminded of how many times Mitsuo made me cry myself to sleep...

**Jharoz:** Uhh. Sorry if I sounded rude last chapter. I didn't mean to make it seem like that, it's just I didn't know how to word it better ^^; So don't worry I won't give up on this story! This'll be my first story that I'll actually complete!

**anon:** I just decided to do some minor changes (like his profile on TV Tropes says that the word choices that can be picked can make him be a 'Deadpan Snarker,' so I just added one or two of them). I'm hoping you like it~

**Windmarkd10:** GOD DAMN. How can I just forget about my _own_ story material! I'm losing it, honestly. Thanks for clearing that up ^^;

**Thanks everyone for the reviews again!**

**Disclaimer: If you don't know what this is for then you should be told why. (Just in case you don't know, I only own Andy. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.)**

**

* * *

~July 28th~**

**~Thursday~**

**~11:15AM~**

* * *

"Yoooooosukeeeeeeeee!" Teddie yelled as we entered Junes. A lot of staff and customers stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I sighed as they did so and quickly dragged the bear further into the store.

"Don't scream out his name like that!" I hissed. "You'll just make fools of us! Plus, there's a chance that he might not even be here!"

"But how will we know if he's here or not if we don't get his attention?"

"Agh, leave that to me." I quickly glanced around the area we were in, which just happened to be the TV department. "How'd we wind up _here_ of all places?"

"I don't know. Force of habit?"

"Hmm. Maybe." To the side of us there was a row of different electronic devices, and at the end of the row was a staff member, checking stock. "Excuse me?" I said, walking up to him. He turned to me with a hazy expression. "You don't happen to know if Yosuke Hanamura is working today, do you?"

The guy blinked and turned his head to his other side. "I think he was scheduled for restocking the shelves in the food department..."

"Okay, thanks!" I said and, urging Teddie to follow, walked towards the groceries. There... were a lot. More so than down in the shopping district's general store - potato chips, cereal, fruit, veggies, chocolate, and a whole bunch of Japanese ingredients I'm not willing to learn the names of. At the far end of the section was Yosuke, busily stacking oranges in a giant pyramid-like form. I had the urge to scare him to see if the fruits would fall, but I decided against it, since it might hurt my chances at getting a job.

"Yo, Yosuke!" Teddie yelled as he ran up and slapped the guy on the back.

"Wha-WHOA!" The hit was hard enough to actually send my senpai over onto the pile of oranges, causing them to all fall over.

"Aw, Ted, why?" I asked as I tried to grab the oranges rolling towards me. "I was gonna do that."

Yosuke flung the oranges off his body and sat up, rubbing his apparently sore nose. "What the hell are you guys doing?"

"I came to work, obviously!" Teddie answered, not bothering to help him up.

"And I came here to actually get a job," I said to him.

"Then why'd you have to push me into my pile of oranges?" Yosuke's voice was growing increasingly angrier. "I spent two hours on that! And now it's ruined!"

"Sorry," Ted replied. "I was just in the mood."

Yosuke grumbled then sat up. "Okay then. Seeing as how you caused this, Ted, it'll be your job to clean up the oranges."

"Wha-!"

Yosuke turned to me. "Andrew, you come with me. I'll introduce you to the manager."

"Okay." I turned to Teddie as Yosuke and I walked away, "Have fun, Ted!"

"But-!" I didn't hear the rest of it.

* * *

The two of us exited the manager's room. I had on a Junes apron that only employees are allowed to wear, so that pretty much meant I was part of the team now.

"Thanks so much, Yosuke-senpai!" I said to him as we walked back to the grocery section. "I can finally start getting actual money now!"

"You're gonna hafta work before you can actually get anything, you know," Yosuke said, glancing at me. "Have you ever worked in a place like this before?"

"No. But how hard can it be? It's just stacking stuff, checking stock, and whatnot, right?"

"It's more than that. At times you've got to clean up everything, like what Teddie's doing."

"Shouldn't be a problem. I used to help my mom with cleaning back home."

"There's also working at the checkouts and making sure that the customers always get the correct change back..."

"Not hard. I'm good with math."

"Well then... Hopefully nothing else causes you any trouble. You and Ted are my responsibility, so if you two do anything, I'll get held responsible for it."

I looked at him. "Seriously?" A mischievous grin grew on my face. "I am in the process of forming ideas."

His face was priceless - a look of seriousness quickly changed to confusion, then disbelief, and then to nervousness. "Oh, _hell_ no, you're not doing anything! Not when I'm around!"

"Aw, relax, senpai, I won't do anything... _too_ troublesome... Heheh..."

**

* * *

~11:30AM~**

Yosuke took the first few minutes to show me what the various aisles had, what parts of the store the different departments were in, etcetera. After that, he had Teddie and I get items from storage and put them on their shelves, check the stock for different things, and help clean up the floors.

Eventually, Yosuke walked up to me and said, "Andrew, you're going on cash for a bit."

My eyebrow went up. "Huh? Already?"

"Yeah, we're actually short a few people this morning. Follow me, I'll show you the basics."

The two of us left Teddie alone with his own job of sweeping up the floor and walked over to the cash registers. There were a couple of employees already there, helping the customers as they came up. Near the center of the row of them was an empty register where Yosuke walked up to. I followed him there and stood behind the small computer screen.

"I take it you somewhat know how to work this stuff?" Yosuke asked with his arms folded.

"Somewhat, yeah," I replied. "I have no clue how to work the actual buttons, but scanning the bar codes should be easy."

Yosuke blinked, then sighed. "I've got a lot to teach you."

And so, Yosuke took me on a crash course through the various buttons and gizmos and doo-dads that were on the register, what buttons to press to open the money holder, and what I have to do in case a product doesn't have a bar code, among a lot of other things.

"Okay, I think that's everything," Yosuke nodded as he concluded his speech.

"Wow," I said blankly. "That's a lot. Hopefully I can remember it all."

"I'm sure you will." Yosuke smiled, then looked passed me. "Ah, there's a customer." He quickly turned on his heel and walked back to the food section. "Take care of him, will you? I'm going to go check on Ted."

"Alrighty!" I said as he walked away. I turned to the man as he walked up to me. He had short brown hair and wore a plain white buttoned-up shirt and black pants. He also had a small hunchback, but I knew I shouldn't say anything about it. The man placed his items on the counter before me - a bag of chips, a bottle of beer (did they really sell that here?), and some... takoyaki, I think. "Good afternoon," I cheerfully greeted him.

He just looked up at me with a confused look. "You don't recognize me?" he asked in a depressed voice.

"Uhh... Sh-Should I?"

He quickly realized what he said and shook his head. "No, no, forget it."

"Um, okay." I scanned the few items he had - _I've always wanted to this! _- and placed them in a bag.

"I'm glad you're alright."

I looked up at the guy. He still looked a little down, but he had a small smile on his face. "Er... P-Pardon?"

That smile quickly faded and he shook his head yet again. "Nothing, never mind."

_Uhh... This guy's kinda weird._ "O-Okay then... That'll be 1050 yen." The man paid the money and, with a thanks, quickly walked out of the store. I stared after the guy with a raised eyebrow. "...Weirdo."

**

* * *

~12:30PM~**

"Hey, Andrew."

"Hmm?" I was resting my chin on my hand as I waited around for more customers to come. Sadly, there was only one other, and strangely, that was Adachi, buying a couple of cabbages and some drinks. We only chatted for about a minute before he got a call from Officer Dojima to get back to the police station. Not exactly sure what for; I think just some paper work. But now that I think about it, that rookie cop seemed to be acting a little strange...

Anyway, I turned around to see Yosuke and Teddie standing behind me, the latter of who looked about ready to collapse. "It's break time. Let's go get lunch."

"Break time?" I repeated, glancing at the nearby clock. "Already? It's only been an hour..."

"I know that," Yosuke nodded. "Normally, you wouldn't have one now since you started late. But because this is also your first day, they're letting you have one early."

"Ooh, lucky." I stood up straight and stretched my arms. "All this waiting around was actually starting to make me hungry."

"Alright, then, c'mon. Lunch is on me."

I blinked. "Seriously? Then I'm getting the most expensive meal here."

"Wha-"

* * *

Honestly, I didn't, though mine and Teddie's food combined did do a nice bit of damage to Yosuke's wallet. We all ordered steak of different kinds and sizes, but mine was the largest out of the three of us.

"You guys are _so_ owing me for this..." Yosuke said as he picked at his own steak.

"You offered," I replied between bites. "We owe nothing. And _damn_ this steak is good."

"Wow!" Teddie was amazed. Apparently. "Junes's steaks are amazing!"

"I think there are better places out there, personally," I replied. "Though I have to admit, this stuff is rather good."

"The chefs do their best," Yosuke said.

"Mmm." I munched quietly at my steak before I remembered something. "Ah, Yosuke-senpai, sorry for not getting you anything for your birthday last month."

"Hmm? Oh, don't worry about that. I didn't really celebrate it."

"You didn't?" Teddie looked over to him in shock. "But... why? _Everyone_ knows you have to celebrate birthdays!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't. Too much of a hassle."

"I feel the same way," I said. "Haven't had a party in two years."

"What!" Teddie looked between the two of us, completely flabbergasted. "How can you guys _not_ have parties! They're what makes having birthdays more fun! You get to spend the day with your friends and have cake and tell stories and play games and have more cake and open presents and get money and have _more_ cake! That's what having a birthday's all about!"

"Having cake?" I asked jokingly.

"Well, if that's how you feel, we'll have a party for your birthday," Yosuke said to him. "...Uh, whenever it is."

"Oh, my birthday's..." Teddie paused and blinked. "It's... Um... Actually, I don't think I even have one."

"Really?" I asked. I faked a sigh and shrugged my shoulders. "Well then, I guess we won't be able to throw you a party now."

"W-W-W-What!" Teddie was already on the verge of tears. "No! I want a birthday party! Please, Andy! Please, Yosuke!"

"Dude, pipe down!" Yosuke hissed. "We're attracting attention!"

"I don't care! I want a party! Waahhh!"

He was keeping this up for a good minute, and I was becoming increasingly annoyed. "Grrraaaaalright, fine!" I yelled as I slammed my hands on the table. "We'll give you a frickin' party if you want! Just shut up with the crying!"

Teddie's tears instantly vanished. "Yippeeee!" He threw his hands in the air. "Thanks, Andy! You're so kind!"

I sighed as I sat back down in my seat. "Well, it can't be soon." Before Teddie could start crying again, I explained, "We're gonna be going back into the TV world tomorrow - I think - to get that guy out of there. Sometime after that, but not today or tomorrow."

"How about the day after? That's free, right?"

"Nope, sorry, dude," said Yosuke. "That's Chie's birthday."

I blinked. "It is? I didn't know that..." I put on a grin, "Hmph, I'm not missing this one, then! I've already been absent from yours and Rise-chan's - I won't forget about this one!"

"I think the reason why you didn't wish me a 'happy birthday' was because you didn't know..." Yosuke sighed. "And neither you or Rise-chan were here to celebrate hers!"

"Doesn't matter now, anyways! I won't be forgetting Chie-senpai's!"

I heard a chuckle. "You seem fired up about something."

I turned my head ninety degrees to see Souji walk over to our table. "Oh, senpai! I didn't realize you were here."

"I just got here, actually," Souji replied. He sighed stretched a bit, "It's a long walk from my home to here..."

"Well, at least you made it," Yosuke said. "I was wondering when you were going to get here. I e-mailed you about an hour ago."

"I told you already," Souji said, deciding to take a seat between him and Teddie, "I was helping Nanako clean up around the house. I couldn't just leave in the middle of it."

"I know, I know," Yosuke chuckled. "But still, you could've sped it up. Our break's almost over."

"C'mon, now," Souji sighed, a hand to his forehead. "My six year old sister and I cleaned an entire house, every nook and cranny of it, and it took only from nine o'clock to now. I _was_ speeding it up."

"Whoa, sorry, man," Yosuke said, his hands up defensively. "Didn't know."

Souji took a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry. It's just... a lot's been on my mind."

"Like what?" I asked, tilting my head. "It might be good if you tell us, to get it off your chest."

Souji looked at me, but then smiled and chuckled. "You're probably right. Hmm, let's see... The biggest thing I'm thinking of right now is that the kid in the TV world may be the killer. If he is, then he's responsible for Saki-senpai's, Ms. Yamano's, and Mr. Morooka's death, along with the kidnappings of most of our team. If we're able to catch him, then we can put a stop to the murder case and forget about this whole thing."

"But... that's what we want, right?" I asked, still biting my steak. "Why are you fretting over that?"

"I guess... it's because I'm worried about what may happen to us if we lose," Souji replied, his face showing deep concern. "If he really is the killer, then he might be a challenging opponent. There may be a chance that one of us may... fall, in battle."

"You mean... die?" Teddie asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah..." Souji sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "It's strenuous being a leader, I'll tell you that."

"I'd say... Having to watch over - uh, hang on. Me, Rise-chan, Kanji, plus three senpai and Ted - the seven of us really would be tough..." I replied. I looked up at him with a smile, however. "But, don't worry, though. We're all doing our best out there on the field, and even if we get knocked down we'll get right back up, with or without help!"

"Yeah," Yosuke nodded. "I want to solve this case just as much as you do, partner. I'm not gonna let something like the risk of dying stop me from getting to the bottom of this."

"Yeah, same here," Teddie grinned. "I know I'm not fighting like the rest of you, but I'm still doing my best at helping from the sidelines!"

Souji looked at each one of us with a slightly surprised expression, but soon after he smile widely and said, "Thanks guys. I know you're all helping with this, but I just can't help worrying for everyone's sakes."

"Well, I guess that's expected for a leader," Yosuke mused. "But still, there's no need to get nervous. Like Andy said, we can hold our ground, too."

"Yeah, that's right!" I nodded. "Wait, you just called me Andy."

"Easier to say than Andrew."

"Huh. True, I guess."

"Sensei," Ted turned to him. "I know that you feel that if someone actually _does_ die on the other side, you'll feel like it's your fault..." Souji blinked, but let the bear continue. "But you don't need to think like that. I've seen everyone fight, and I know that they can keep themselves and each other safe." He put on a confident smile - _Whoa his teeth are really white -_ "So you don't have to worry about anyone dying, because no one will."

The three of us just stare at the bear. "That..." Yosuke began. "was so not you who just said that."

"H-Huh? Whaddaya mean?"

"I mean... it sounded _smart._"

"Wha-!"

Souji began to quietly chuckle, which quickly turned into laughter. "Thank you, Teddie," he said, patting the bear's blond hair. "I needed something like that to lift my spirits."

"S-Sensei!" the bear beamed, though I think our leader meant for it as a little insult. "No problem!"

"Um, senpai?" I got his attention back. "You said there was more than that troubling you?"

He blinked, then shook his head. "Oh... No, it's nothing. Compared to the TV world, the rest isn't worth anyone's time."

"Uh... Okay then."

Suddenly the alarm on Yosuke's phone went off. He flipped it open to make sure, and when he saw the time he said, "Alright, guys. Back to work we go."

I sighed. "Well it was fun while it lasted..." I turned to Souji. "Oh, right, senpai, I've got two things to ask."

"Hmm? What's up?"

"First, when are we going into the TV world again?"

"I, uh, don't know, why?"

_Oh, well, Rise-chan and I decided that, once we get the dude out of there, we'll go on a date and NO NO CAN'T SAY THAT TO ANYONE. Hey, maybe I can get him to say tomorrow._ "Oh, you know, I just want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Well, then... How about tomorrow?"

_Just as planned. Mwahaha._ "Ah, sure! Thank you! And the second thing: when's your birthday?"

"My birthday?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought we talked about this yesterday..."

"We did, but I, uh wasn't listening. Ahehe..." I scratched my neck sheepishly.

My senpai snickered. "My birthday's on August 23rd."

"Oh, so it's yet to come!" I grinned. "I gotta write these down somewhere. Your's is in August, Chie-senpai's is in two days from now, Rise-chan's is the first of June-"

"Wait, what? Chie-chan's birthday is two days from today?" Souji asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Huh?" Yosuke, who was still waiting for me, asked. "Yeah, it is. I thought Chie told you that before."

Souji thought for a moment, and when realization hit he smiled embarrassedly and scratched his cheek. "It, uh, must've slipped my mind..."

"Huh. Alright, then, we'll be going back to work then. See ya later, partner."

"Bye, Sensei!"

"Later, senpai!"

"Right. See you guys."

**

* * *

~2:05PM~**

My shift ended at two o'clock sharp, so right now I was on my way back to my inn room from Junes. I realized that my iPod was about to die soon, so I decided to use the Amagi Inn's public computer (granted that nobody's on it) and plug it in to charge. The inn allows the use of plugging music players into its computers, but for some reasons is against using CDs, which is why I have yet to convert Rise's songs into my playlist.

'_**Oh, Andrew. That reminds me.'**_

_Hmm? What is it?_

'_**I've figured out how you and Rise got into the dream realm together last night.'**_

_Oh really. How?_

'_**It's because you both were dreaming at the same time.'**_

_...Huh?_

'_**When you two were together, I found myself with her Persona, Himiko. The two of us discussed what had happened to cause you two to go in there like that, and simultaneous dreaming was the answer we came we came up with.**_

_I... uh, see. So, no matter the distance between us, we'll see each other if we have a dream at the same time?_

'_**No, that is not true. Remember on the day you returned to your school? We met for the first time in the dream realm, and Rise's silhouette appeared between us.'**_

_...OH! Yes, I remember!_

'_**The reason there was a silhouette and not the real person was because there was a large distance between the two of you when you were dreaming.'**_

_Large distance...? So, does that whole 'one feels panicked, the other feels pain' thing belong to this, too, then?_

'_**I'm assuming so. Anyway, I am also wondering if that is the only way for it to work. There may be some other way to force oneself into the other's mind during the night.'**_

_That sounds kinda... creepy._

'_**Yet necessary. If there's ever a time we need to quickly communicate, this may be a good option.'**_

_Uh... I do have a cell phone, you know._

'_**And what if she doesn't have access to hers?'**_

_...B-But is there ever going to be a time where she's asleep and I'm not and I know something important and it's so urgent that I need to tell it to her in her dreams?_

'_**You never know.'**_

_But if that really is the case, then how would I force myself asleep?_

_**'...'**_

_Ha ha! Stumped ya, didn't I? _Wyvern sighed in my head, which somehow made me think of another question._ But, um, how exactly were you able to tell that I was dreaming?_

_**'As you know, I am a part of you, so I can tell when you are dreaming and what you are dreaming of. And, just as you were about to have a dream last night, your consciousness was taken to our dream realm, where Rise appeared as well.'**_

_So, everyone's Persona can tell when they're dreaming._

_**'Yes.'**_

_I see. Well, I'm glad we cleared _that_ up. Though there is still one thing bothering me..._

_**'And that is?'**_

_Just why the hell is this happening to us? Souji and Yukiko aren't connected, and the same for anyone else! Why just Rise-chan and me?_

_**'...'**_

_You don't know, do you?_

_**'I apologise.'**_

_No, there's no need to be sorry. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. ...At least, I don't think it is..._

**

* * *

~July 28th~**

**~Friday~**

**~10:30AM~**

* * *

Everyone was already circled around the special headquarters by the time Teddie and I arrived. We were all in our school uniforms ('cept for Ted, 'cause, you know), and _geez_ I was sweltering underneath it.

"Hey!" Rise waved as the two of us made our way to the table.

I grinned back and waved. "Yo!"

"So, we're all here?" Souji asked, standing up.

"I believe so!" Chie nodded with enthusiasm.

"Alright, then," replied our leader with a smile on his face. "We're going in today, and we're not coming out until we get that guy!"

"Damn straight!" Kanji pumped a fist in the air. "Oh, wait! Did anyone remember to bring something to eat today?"

"I did!" Yukiko responded cheerfully, holding up a plastic bag with eight boxed lunches in it. Every one of us dudes besides Teddie gasped in horror and quickly stepped away from the black-haired girl.

"You... didn't!" Yosuke whispered in disbelief, shaking his head. He suddenly clutched his head and screamed, "No! My memories of the school campout tragedy are coming back to me!"

"Wha-" Yukiko was taken aback. "N-No, it's not like _that_! I only _helped_ with making the lunches! The inn's chefs practically did everything!"

We all took that in, and sighed in relief that no one will suffer from food poisoning. "Thank God..." I said. "I'm not sure if Diaramas will cure sick stomachs..."

"Hey, lay off, you guys!" Chie snarled. "Yukiko did the best she could, so there's no need for insulting her cooking like that!"

"Hey, did you ever taste Mystery Food X?" Yosuke asked. "It was like being tortured with curry! There's no way I'll ever be having any meal either of you created, or even touched!"

"Oookaay," Souji sighed, placing a hand on Yosuke's shoulder. "You're digging too deep now, pal. Stop while you're ahead, unless you want your nuts cracked again." The rest of us guys cringed at the thought of such a thing, and the headphone-wearing second-year quickly shut his trap.

"So, if we're done talkin' about this," Kanji spoke up. "Let's go already. I want to rescue that creep just so I can beat him up myself!"

"Exactly what's on my mind, Kanji!" Rise smirked. "There's no way in hell that we won't get a hold of him! Am I right?"

We all cheered in agreement and went through the TV in the electronics department. _We are _so _gonna kick that guy's ass!_

* * *

The team and I reached the castle in no time at all. It was completely the same as last time we were here, besides that little blue butterfly hovering in a circle just next to the entrance.

"The heck's that?" I asked, pointing a cleaver to it.

"A butterfly, dummy," Kanji replied snarkishly.

"Shut up. I mean what's it doing here and why's it blue and floating in a circle."

"We're not sure why it's here, or blue, or floating in a circle," Souji chuckled. "We _can_ use to get up to the floor we finished off at, though."

"R-Really? We can?" Rise asked, equally surprised as me. "So that means we don't have to waste time going through the first five floors!"

"Sweet!" I was impressed. "We can get there in no time at all today! Let's go!" I ran for the flying thing, and as soon as I brushed a finger on it I was sent inside the castle to (what I am assuming was) the fifth floor. "Whoa, dude, it works."

I walked ahead a tiny bit before there were seven more flashes of bright light behind me. I turned to see the rest of my team walk up towards me. "That was a lot like my Traesto ability..." Rise thought aloud. "Except I didn't have to use any energy for it... Neat!"

"Andrew..."

"Hm?" I looked at Kanji's painful expression, then realized that stupid chip tune music playing again. "Right, right, I'm on it..." Like last time, I took out my iPod and switched it on to the song I had stopped at.

"That's better..." the big guy's face quickly relaxed.

"Okay, is everyone ready now?" Souji asked. We all nodded and/or agreed, and he continued by saying, "Yosuke, Kanji, Chie-chan. You're in the fighting team today."

"Alright!" "You got it!" "Sure thing!" were the replies. They brandished their weapons and walked to the head of the group.

"Everyone else, keep back and make sure none of you get hurt." Us non-fighters nodded in agreement and we made our way through the castle. I had my left hand in my pocket, fingering my new alternate weapons that I thought of taking at the last minute. I couldn't wait to try them out, though I would most likely need to practice. _The first time we take a break, I'll try it out. Hopefully that'll be soon._

Before we could even see a door, I felt a tugging on my sleeve. I glanced back to see Rise quickly put a finger to her mouth, urging me to keep my voice down. I was a little baffled as to why, but I nodded anyways. She smiled softly, then started to slow her pace as well. She still had a grip on my sleeve, so I was forced to slow down as well. The others ahead of us didn't notice and kept on moving forward.

I glanced back to the redhead. "What's up?" I whispered.

"When we go to Okina City," Rise responded quietly, "what do you wanna do?"

I blinked, then quickly looked back to the others. Everyone was still walking ahead, some chatting amongst themselves. They didn't even hear her speak. "We're talking about this now?"

"Well, yeah. You weren't around yesterday so we didn't get a chance to."

"Oh, right... Okay then. How about... a movie?"

"Which one?"

"I don't know. Whatever you want to see."

She blinked, then smiled. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't know any of the names right now. I don't care what we see; I'm good with anything."

"Are you, now?" Rise smirked. "Then how about a horror film?"

_Oh Christ I'm no good with those._ "Ah... Y-Yeah, sure. Anything's fine, like I said..."

Her smirk turned into mischievous smile. "You sure~? You don't sound up to it~!"

"N-No! I can totally take a scary movie. Just pick which ever one you want and we'll watch it."

"Alright, then," Rise grinned. "The next day we're free after this, we'll go watch a movie. A _very_ scary movie."

_Oh, God, whyyyy?_

"Oi, kouhai!" Souji called from ahead of us. He was only glancing over his shoulder as he and the others walked. "Hurry up, you're falling behind!"

"Ah, sorry!" the two of us replied, and we rushed back to the group.

* * *

After several fights against this place's Shadows, we eventually came to the eighth floor, where Kanji and Teddie claimed that they were starting to get hungry. I quickly said I was hungry as well, even though that was sort of a fib - I actually just wanted the chance to try out my new abilities again, and I figured practicing during a break would be best.

So, we found a vacant room where we all sat in yet another circle - _Maybe it's because we're at the special headquarters so much?_ - where we all ate our actually well made lunches. From the stories Souji and Yosuke told, I had figured that anything Yukiko or Chie did to any kind of food would automatically be deemed 'inedible,' but Yukiko herself insisted that the chefs at the inn were helping her along the way. I could believe that, since I wasn't suffering from food poisoning yet.

"Mmm!" Kanji mumbled between his munches. "This isn't half bad, senpai!"

"I'm..." Yosuke seemed amazed. "not unconscious!"

"I have to admit, this is a big improvement, Yukiko-chan," Souji praised with a hint of surprise.

Yukiko became flustered and quickly waved her hands. "N-No, I hardly did anything! I just added some ingredients, the chefs did most of the cooking!"

"You still helped with it, though," I said with a mouth full. "So this technically counts as your work, right?"

"I..." Yukiko blinked. "I suppose it does..."

"Hmmm..." Rise was simply eating her meal, as if she were taste-testing it. "...It's not... spicy enough."

"Huh? Spicy?" Chie looked at the girl.

"Yeah," Rise nodded. "This is good and all, but it's not very hot."

"O-Oh... You like spicy food?" Yukiko said, to which the twin tailed girl nodded. "I had assumed that no one would want any spices in their meal, so I requested not to have any put in... Sorry."

"Oh, no, it's okay," Rise shook her red head. "I don't mind eating it like this. Just... remember for next time, please?"

"Sure thing."

I quickly shoved the rest of my food in my mouth, downed the bottle of water given to us and, with a satisfied burp, stood up and stretched. "Thanks a lot, Yukiko-senpai! I'm stuffed!" I quickly turned around before a 'you're welcome' could be said. "Now I've got something important to try out."

"Huh? What's that?" Teddie asked, still happily munching away.

"Oh, you'll see..." I smirked and reached into my left pocket. Pulling one of my new forms of attack out, I examined it: a single, one yen coin. I then lifted up my arm and tried to get the Zio flowing through my arm, which took a little less effort than yesterday. The blue electric charges sparked all over my forearm, and I grinned even wider at the sight of it. "Let's see if I can get this right..." Curling my hand into a fist and placing my thumbnail under my index finger, I put the coin on the top of the nail. "Okay, how does it work again...? Flick up, charge, then flick it again...?" I snapped my thumb up, which caused the coin to ascend. Wasting no time, I got the energy flowing through my veins, and positioned my fist underneath the falling coin.

"What... are you doing?" Kanji asked.

"Huh?" I glanced back, not expecting anyone to say something.

_Cling, cling cling_

"Wha-" I turned back around to see that the coin had fallen on the ground. I sighed and picked it back up. "No interruptions, please."

"Alright, fine."

I redid all the previous steps, and as I flicked the coin in the air, I got ready. _It's coming down, I can do this, I can do th-_

I missed.

"What!" I scrambled to pick up the coin, chasing it halfway across the room. Everyone behind me started to laugh at my failure, but I quick glare back at them to silence them ...Well, that didn't really do anything, they just kept laughing.

I picked up the coin and tried again. This time I went for the strike at the wrong time, making it bounce away again. The next time, I flicked it up at an awkward angle, making it fly behind me. Then I kept fumbling with it as I tried to place it on my thumbnail. The time after that I just missed again. _Then_ when I actually managed to hit it, I forgot to charge my arm with electricity.

And I was getting annoyed by the millisecond. I clenched my fists pretty hard, leaving marks from the coin in the palm of my hand. My friends' laughter didn't help much, either. _No, no, calm down. You won't get anywhere by getting angry._ I took a deep breath and ignored the continued giggles from behind. _There's another way that it can be done, isn't there? I think it was shooting it without flicking the thing up, from the first season's opening..._

So I decided to try that. Leaving the coin on my thumbnail, I sent the electric currents through the veins in my arm with little difficulty. The sparks danced on around my wrist and hand, and quickly jumped from them onto the coin. I knew that was the moment to shoot it, but I just watched it for a moment. The electric charges were being absorbed by whatever kind of metal it was made of, and just seeing it like this was stunning, really.

I quickly snapped back to reality as I started to feel a sudden pain in my arm. I realized that I had been causing the flow of Zio through my veins a _bit_ too much, so with a mighty roar, I flicked the coin.

_**BOOOOOM**_

It was unbelievable. All of the electricity charged up within the coin burst out when I flicked it, causing it to zoom of at ridiculous speeds (or that's how I think it works). It exploded into an orange light and blasted off the moment I hit it.

There was one problem, though: instead of going straight ahead, it went straight up.

"...Ah... Wh-Wha..." I hardly reacted; I only stared blankly at the wall in front of me, blinking in disbelief. The others behind me had stopped laughing as well, most likely from shock of seeing that.

_Or maybe fear. I hope they're afraid of me now._

I got hit in the head with a tiny bit of dirt falling from above. I looked up to see something gray in the ceiling. Squinting my eyes I noticed it was the edge of the coin, lodged right into it. Some more rubble fell down and hit me in between the eyes, and I silently thanked nothing went in my eyes. I suddenly found myself almost out of breath, and there was still a slight twinge in my forearm. I began to back up towards the others, keeping my eye on the coin above me, and I turned and sat down when I reached them.

"You...!" I looked around the group to see everyone with wide eyes and gaping mouths. They all had stopped eating, and a piece of meat slipped from Yosuke's chopsticks, though he didn't even notice it. "How...?" he said. "W-Wha...?"

"Heh..." I chuckled, finding it difficult to catch my breath. "I knew I could do it... Though I think it was supposed to go straight ahead..."

"That..." Teddie's bear eyes were a _lot_ larger than they normally are. "was amazing! How did you do that?"

"Oh, you know... Just charged the coin and flicked it... Though it ate a nice chunk of my energy..." I sighed and laid flat on my back. "I think I need to rest for a few hours..."

"Um... Alright, then," Souji nodded, then added a smirk to the mix. "When we're finished our meals, we'll go on and leave you here to rest.

"Wait, what?"

* * *

I was still a bit out of it by the time they finished eating, but I forced myself up and with them. Everyone was continuously asking me questions, like 'what gave you the idea,' and 'how tough was it to do it.' I told them the truth, that it wasn't hard at all - just draining. I was actually glad I was able to do that. Honestly, I hadn't been sure if I would be able to pull it off or not; I pretty much winged the whole thing and just hoped for the best.

Yosuke, Chie and Kanji were still in the party as we ascended up the floors, and when we eventually came to the top floor, they were all out of breath.

"That guy is right past this door!" Teddie announced as we stood before a giant door.

"Okay, then..." Chie said between deep breaths. "Not sure if I'm up to this now..."

"Ditto..." Yosuke sighed heavily. "I can hardly stand up straight..."

Kanji turned to Rise, Yukiko and I. "Looks like you guys're up again..."

I glanced at Souji. "Are we?"

"Rise-chan and Yukiko-chan are, yes," Souji nodded as the two girls grinned. "But how are _you_ feeling?" he asked me. "You said that you were out of energy earlier..."

"Ah, right..." I said. "I... think I should be fine. I've caught my breath, at the very least."

Souji considered this, but sighed and pulled out a round, red thing, almost like a kind of candy. "Take this and swallow it."

"Uh... What is it?"

"It's called a Snuff Soul. It'll recharge your energy a nice bit."

"It will? A-Are you sure you want me to have it?"

"Well, we don't got a lot of choice." Souji sighed. "I wanted to save this for an absolute emergency, but we're going to have to be at our full strength to do this."

"O-Oh, okay then." I popped it in my mouth and swallowed it, though it was a bit of a challenge to actually do so. When I did, though, the effects kicked in immediately and I felt revitalized again. "W-Whoa. I-I feel perfect!"

"Good," Souji nodded and smiled. "Alright, then!" He turned to everyone else. "Are you all ready to get this guy?"

"Totally!" Rise cheered for us all. She raised her scythe above her head, almost hitting Yosuke in the face with the blade, and cried, "Let's go in there and take that creep down!"

"Okay," Souji quickly spun around to face the door. "Let's do this!" And with all of his might he somehow managed to kick the huge door down, hinges and all. What really surprised me was that it _still_ fell in 8-bit.

When we hopped over it, we found ourselves in the coliseum-like room that was projected on the Midnight Channel. Farther ahead of us, near the middle of the room, was that Mitsuo person, standing in front of his Shadow, which was oddly in the exact same clothes as what the original was wearing.

"Look!" Chie yelled, pointing dead ahead. "There he is!"

We all ran forward to the guy, yet he didn't even hear us. "You Mitsuo?" Kanji yelled at him, apparently remembering his name. "You better be ready to pay, you bastard!"

Yosuke seemed to catch something we did not. "Wait, Kanji... Something's not right!"

"Everyone gets on my nerves..." We turned our gaze back to the boy and saw him arguing with his Shadow. "That's why I did it!" He stared right into his Shadow's eyes. "What do you think of that? Say something, dammit!" His Shadow did not. "Nobody even thought of me after the first two people... That's why I went for the third one!" He stomped a foot onto the ground and yelled, "I killed them!"

"S-So...!" I said. "He really _is_ the killer?"

"Sounds like it!" Rise replied.

Mitsuo's dark self continued to remain quiet, which was making the original very confused. "Wh-What're you all quiet for...?" he asked, trying to keep up a courageous front.

"Because..." his Shadow decided to speak. "I feel nothing..."

"What're you talking about? Make sense, dammit!"

"I... have nothing... I am nothing..." His Shadow slowly raised its head to stare unemotionally at the boy. "And you... are me..."

"What...?" Mitsuo stepped back a bit in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm... I'm not nothing..."

"No!" Yukiko yelled. "If this keeps up...!"

Mitsuo then decided to hear us. He quickly turned around in shock and gasped. "Wh-Who're you guys?" he loudly questioned. "How'd you get in here...?" I was about to reply, but the kid gave me no such time to do so. "Dammit, who the hell are you! What're you doing here!"

"Shut the hell up!" Kanji roared. "We came after you!"

"You're the killer, aren't you!" Souji yelled at him.

Mitsuo just stared at him, but he suddenly gained a smile and started laughing. "Hahaha... Ahahahahaha!" It was surprisingly creepy for a sixteen year old. "Of course I am! I'm the one behind everything!" He turned back around to face his Shadow. "I don't give a damn what this impostor's saying! Hahaha, you hear that?" he laughed at 'himself'. "You have nothing to do with me! Get outta my sight!" The Shadow didn't say anything again. Mitsuo once again turned to look at us. "That goes for the rest of you, too... Why'd you chase me all the way here? I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you! I can do it you know... I can do anything!"

"This guy's cracked..." I heard Rise muttered.

"So... You don't accept me..."

Suddenly the boy before us slumped to the ground on one knee, giving us a clear view of his angry Shadow behind him. "Nng! W-What the...?" Mitsuo then collapsed to the floor, unconscious. His Shadow started getting covered in the familiar dark fog. After it got completely enshrouded, a larger than normal baby (?) burst out of it. It was completely naked, though there was nothing there - _OH GOD THE IMPLICATIONS_ - and there was this ring of weird characters floating around its huge head.

"Dammit!" Yosuke cursed. "Here we go again!"

"Everyone, get ready!" Souji yelled, getting into his fighting position. "Once we finish this up, the case is as good as solved!" He quickly turned back to us. "Yukiko-chan, Rise-chan, Andrew, let's go!"

"RIGHT!" We yelled, and ran up to cut the baby off from the others.

Even before we could actually _reach _the thing, it made its first move. It put its small hands to its head as its eyes widened. A dark red flow of energy was radiating from it, and before I knew it we were staring at-

"W-What the hell is this!" I yelled, starring up at the 8-bit giant.

"Is that a... video game character?" Rise raised an eyebrow. "Geez, it looks so corny!"

"Ick..." Yukiko said, narrowing her eyes at it. "This is why I'd _much_ rather story characters to those from games..."

"I am... a Shadow..." the giant said quietly. It's voice was almost unrecognizable, and it was as if a computer was speaking. "Come... I'll end your emptiness..."

"Guys!" Teddie called from behind us. "You'll have to get rid of that shell before you can attack the baby!"

"I already figured that out..." I heard Souji whisper, but he turned to the bear and actually called out, "Alright, thank you!" He then summoned a Persona card and crushed it in his hands, and called forth a three-legged crow, who's name I already knew to be Yatagarasu ('cause, you know, Utsuho Reiuji 'n all). The bird 'cawed' and four pillars of green light shot up beneath each of us. "Okay, let's _go_!"

Using this boost of speed, I quickly charged forward and went for one of its legs. They were going up and down in that 8-bit style, as if it were walking in place, but with careful timing I was able to hit its left one. However, it was as if the thing were made of stone: I was hardly able to penetrate the shell, just barely leaving a scratch. "Oh _frig_!" I quickly jumped away from the character as it stomped its foot where I had been. "That thing's tough!" I announced. "Everyone be careful!"

"Leave it to me!" Rise quickly ran passed me with her scythe dragging behind her. When she got close enough, she leapt rather high into the air - higher than I would've expected, though I'm betting it was because she was manipulating her Garu skills. Even though this was probably her first time doing it, she hit its empty hand directly, despite not doing any decent damage.

Yukiko summoned Konohana-Sakuya to unleash a full blast of Agilao at it, but after which the character retaliated. It bobbed up and down quickly, and suddenly this giant... dialogue box appeared above its head.

"What the-" Souji gasped. There were three words in the black rectangle: 'Attack,' 'Magic,' and 'Item,' like any normal RPG interface. The cursor on the side was quickly scrolling between them, and finally chose to 'attack.' Then, surprisingly, the giant blockhead actually raced for Souji (_not_ in 8-bit this time) before swinging its oversized sword. Our poor leader didn't see it coming, and was knocked back against the wall. "GAH!" he yelled as his back was slammed against the wall.

"_Souji-kun_!" Yukiko screamed. I turned my attention back to our enemy, knowing that Souji would be just fine. I summoned Wyvern and had him use the new Zionga on it (I was still respecting Souji's wishes for us not to use them ourselves), and followed up with another slash to its foot, but this time I actually got kicked away. I managed to land on my feet, yet I still wound up on my butt anyway. From my spot on the ground I saw Rise summon Himiko and use a move that she hadn't used before - that same one her Shadow used on us. Mind Slice, according to Wyvern. It didn't leave any lasting marks, but I could kind of tell that we were wearing it down a _bit_.

"Oni!" I heard Souji yell. I glanced back to see him summon a giant red ogre with a huge blade in its hand. It dashed for the character and swung it straight down its chest. This time it actually recoiled, though not much. Yukiko then took this time to quickly heal Souji, and it was a good thing, too: I was just noticing the blood running down his jaw.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the giant text box again. "Shit..." I muttered as I stood back up, ready for anything it were to throw at me. The cursor this time landed on 'magic,' which caused a large amount of lightning bolts to hit the ground around me.

...Which was the stupidest move ever because I'm pretty much brimming with strength now. Actually, I may have absorbed _too_ much, since I felt like I was about to burst from the energy. I smirked, knowing full well that my next attack would be huge. "Let's try this again!" I summoned Wyvern and had him use Zionga a second time. It cracked down onto it and _whoa_ that was big. It was pretty loud, too, and I had to cover my ears from to keep me from going deaf. _And it actually left a mark this time!_

"N-Nice job!" Rise yelled in a startled manner, removing her own hands from her ears. She then quickly summoned Himiko again and got her to attack with a Bufula, doing minor damage but still getting some hits in. "Geez, what's up with this thing?"

"Keep going!" Souji yelled as he and Yukiko went for a double Agilao. The explosion was big, and it was enough to actually move the creature back a few inches. Or centimetres, or whatever. "Andrew, you, too!"

"Ah, right!" I quickly summoned Wyvern to use the spell I've been neglecting all this time and hit the target again with my senpai. This was a _giant frickin thing_, easily causing a much larger blast. The shell should've been blown to smithereens, too, if it weren't for it being stupid and deciding to stay up. "What the hell! Why won't you break already!"

"Just shut up and keep at it!" Rise answered as she dashed for the thing again. Strangely, she seemed to be going a little _too_ fast, but I guess this was a good time to experiment with our new 'channelling' abilities. I quickly sparked my arm up and considered using a coin, Railgun-style, but decided to hold them off until necessary. Besides, I hadn't figured out how to actually shoot them _forward._

Rise once again jumped a great distance into the air and had her scythe come crashing down onto the shell's shoulder, where it actually became stuck. She gasped and began pulling on it to get it out, but it was lodged in there real good. Suddenly the blockhead's arm moved up (this time in 8-bit again) and grabbed a hold of her.

"RISE-CHAN!" I yelled in shock. She screeched as she kicked and punched the hand around her, and before I knew it she was sent flying down toward the ground. "_SHIT!"_ I don't know what caused it, but as I ran to her, there were sudden electric charges at my heels. This was actually speeding me up _a lot_, even more so than the Sukukaja earlier (though I think it already wore off). _Faster faster FASTER!_ With a diving leap I was able to catch her before she became a splat on the ground. The moment I caught her, I held her close to me as we started bouncing across the floor; I was obviously taking the pain most of the pain, 'cause I'm a _man_.

We wound up sliding underneath the giant, thankfully dodging its stamping feet, and when we stopped skidding, Rise quickly stood and helped me up. "A-Are you okay?" she screamed.

"P-Perfect..." I said, ignoring the numerous scrapes on my body.

"No you're not!" Rise yelled, holding a hand to her forehead. "I know you're not!"

"C-Calm down, they're only scratches..." I sighed, but I had to wince as I stood up. Rise quickly grabbed on to me to help keep my balance, though I don't believe I was about to fall. Hmm...

"I told you you're hurt!" she shouted, practically on the verge of tears.

"Now's not the time, Rise-chan...! C'mon, the others are still fighting." Taking her hand - _HOLY BEACH BALLS I'M HOLDING HER HAND_ - I raced around the giant. When I got to its front, I glanced at the non-fighters to see how they were doing (I was concerned for them, too, y'know). I saw that Rise's scythe had been pulled out of the giant, flung to the ground, and was... stuck right between Yosuke's legs. The guy was sitting down with a scared-for-my-manhood expression, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. "Heh. L-Lucky it landed there..." As Rise went to (awkwardly) retrieve her weapon, I saw that there was even more visible scars and such on the giant blockhead. Yukiko quickly glanced over to me and, noticing my heavy breathing, summoned her Persona to cover me in the light of a Diarama. I quickly felt the scars on my body mending themselves, and with a 'thank you,' I got Wyvern to use Zionga. It wasn't as large as the last time, but it still did some damage.

"Have a taste of _this_!" Rise yelled as she summoned Himiko. Her Persona quickly spun her rapier and pointed it at the blockhead, which caused a medium-sized gust of Garula underneath it. This _still_ didn't make it die, and I was just about to give up when the text box opened up again. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Rise yelled in annoyance. The cursor quickly hovered over every option until deciding to use an 'item.' Suddenly a huge 8-bit bomb appeared above its head. Waving its empty arm up and down, as if it were throwing it, the bomb actually did fly downwards to us. Specifically, Rise.

"NO!" Realizing that she was being targeted, I quickly sidestepped in front of her and summoned Wyvern. I got him to use Fatal End on the bomb, which caused the bomb to be sent back to the giant. _I thought for sure that would've caused it to explode there..._ The bomb hit the character square in the face, and it decided _then_ to blow up in its face. It was a pretty big blast, one that _should make it die._

And thankfully, that _was_ actually enough. The giant 8-bit character we've been fighting with all this time suddenly vanished into thin air. The demonic baby inside of it quickly collapsed to the ground, probably not wanting to block our upcoming attacks for a few seconds.

"Senpai!" I looked over to Souji in request for an all-out attack.

"Normally I don't like attacking children..." Souji chuckled. "But this is an exception. Alright, _now_!" We all shouted our own war cry as we charged the little Shadow. Normally, ganging up on a baby would be wrong, but hell, it attacked first! I think...

The fog quickly covered us, and before we knew it we were all pushed back by a strong force. We all wound up flung across the room and onto our stomachs, but we pushed ourselves up just in time to see the baby use an area-wide Garudyne. _Waitasec, 'dyne'?_

'_**Yes, the upgraded version of Garula! Forgive me, but wind does more damage to you!'**_

_WHAT! OH, FU-_

With a wail, I was sent flying _high_ through the sky. I was continuously flipping around, as if I were on a Ferris Wheel. "_ANDREW-KUN!_" I heard Rise shriek, but with all the spinning I couldn't tell where she was. I kept on going around and around until finally, and unfortunately, I started to descend. _This will not end well._ I hit the ground face first and **GOD DAMN** did it kill. "A-AHH! OWW!" I couldn't see it (since my face had been planted in the ground), but I knew that Rise had to hit the floor as well.

The pain was overwhelming, but I had to bear the pain to get myself up. We were in the middle of a fight, and I couldn't give up now! I was trying to push myself up with my arms, but the pain was too much and they buckled underneath my weight, and I was forced to the ground again. _Dear God that hurt..._ I was sure my nose was broken, and maybe a few ribs too, since I could only feel pain coming from both areas. I forced my head to the side to see Rise crouched over onto the ground, clutching her head in agony. _I'm so sorry..._ I tried to get up again and thankfully didn't fall back down, but I only got so far as to sit myself up. I glanced over to see that Souji and Yukiko were still fighting, both quickly looking back to check up on us. But for some reason the latter wasn't using her Persona. _Is she out of energy, then...? That was quick..._ I was doing my best to hold back the tears from forming in my face, yet my wounded nose was keeping me from keeping them hidden.

"_JIRAIYA!_" I suddenly felt a warm inside, and there was a bright light around me once again. The pain throughout my body was almost completely gone, though there was still a twinge here and there. I looked back to see Yosuke's disco ninja frog vanish, before he slashed his card again and cast another Diarama on Rise. _That probably didn't do much... Our 'shared pain' is only mental._

'_**It's the thought that counts, though.'**_

_Yeah, I s'pose..._

I managed to stand up again and helped Rise up as well. She looked the same as before I went on my flying trip, but her eyes showed the look of concern and worry. "H-How are you...?"

I smiled. "Perfect. You?"

"I'm fine- OH CRAP!" Grabbing onto my arm, Rise quickly pulled me out of the way of two giant blade-like things falling from the sky. They hit the ground with a loud bang, but otherwise left no mark. They disappeared when they landed, too.

Knowing that we weren't finished, the two of us looked around to find our weapons. When I found mine, I yelped. "M-My cleaver! How the hell did it break!"

"What!" Rise quickly turned to me as I held my now broken weapon. "T-That's not good!"

"Excuse me!" Souji's voice rang out ahead of us. "We could use some help here!" The two of us glanced ahead to see Souji blocking more of those blade things. He was standing in front of a crouching Yukiko, who had several cuts and bruises on her arms and legs.

"Dammit!" I cursed. I turned to my friend. "Rise-chan, please, hurry!"

"Y-You don't have to tell _me _twice!" Rise claimed and quickly ran for the baby.

_Geez, how can a toddler dish out this much pain!_ I didn't know what else to do, so I followed Souji's example and crushed my Persona card in my hand. It was actually a bit difficult, but I managed to make Wyvern appeared overhead and used Fatal End on the Shadow. That only annoyed it, and as it turned to me I saw this light above me. This strange, purple light, and it was falling down towards me...

_**'MOVE!'**_

I did as I was told without question and dove out of the way from what was called a Megidola. It caused a huge explosion a violet energy when it hit the floor, and despite my dodging it I was caught in the blast. I also heard several shouts of pain, more than there were fighting, so my guess was that even the spectators were hit by the spell. Considering they were feeling fatigue before we started this fight, they were probably not planning on getting up any time soon.

I landed on the ground with a grunt, and I quickly forced my eyes open to look around. Souji and Yukiko were on the far side of the room, both knocked down to the ground. They were still awake, but they were struggling to get back up. Yosuke, Chie, Kanji and Teddie were all unconscious, even though that was the only attack they got hit with. I had figured that they'd at least be able to take just a _few_ more blows.

And then my eyes fell onto Rise. She was the only one of us who was trying to get up again, but even though she was using her scythe to support herself, she kept slipping back to the floor. After a couple more tries she decided to stay down, but she opened her eyes and locked them with mine.

"I... guess this is... it..." Rise wheezed. "I don't think... we're getting out of... this one..."

"N-No..." I coughed. "This can't be it..." I moved my gaze to the floating baby, who was simply staring at all of us, waiting to see if we would get up again. It didn't attack any of us, but just floated there. _Geez... We can't give up now... There has to be something I can do!_ I quickly considered using my newly dubbed 'Railgun Strike' attack, but that still wouldn't work, since I was only able to shoot it upwards. "Dammit...!" I muttered as I punched the ground.

My eyes shot open.

_Wait a second..._

_..._

_...Punched?_

I gained an idea. Ignoring the pain everywhere on my body, I pushed myself up into a standing position. "A-Andrew-kun...?" Rise looked frightful. "W-What're you doing...?"

I put on a small smile. "You'll see..." _Dear Lord, I pray to you that this will work...!_ I reached into my pocket for another coin, only to realize that there was one left. _What the...! I had at least five!_ I took it out, nevertheless, and placed it on my thumbnail. I knew that I had to get it with this one shot, or else we'd all die. "I can do this..." I whispered to calm myself down. I looked up at the floating child; it was watching my every move, wondering in the name of all that is holy what I was doing. I smirked, said, "Say your prayers, you cry-baby," and flicked the coin high into the air. It's eyes were locked onto it, and as the piece of metal spun I reared my arm behind my head. I quickly charged it with electric currents, and as it began to fall back down I smashed my fist into it.

The Shadow's eyes went wide.

_**KA-BOOOOOOOOOOM**_

The coin flew straight from my knuckles to the baby's forehead. No, scratch that - it went _through_ its forehead, to the wall behind it and stuck itself firmly in a brick. The Shadow literally howled in pain and suffering, and it kicked its tiny arms and legs in torment. It descended to the ground and as dark fog encased it, it turned back to Mitsuo's form.

I started to breath heavily. I never knew realized how destructive that move could be; I mean, sure, I knew it could flip a frickin' car over, but to experience it first hand was... exhausting. _Hopefully this won't make me popular enough that there'll be someone from a grade lower than me constantly gushing over me and calling me 'onii-sama' and trying to force themselves on top of me and teleporting onto my back and WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING. Or maybe I do want that...?_

I glanced to my side to see Rise staring straight ahead, her eyes very wide and her mouth hung open. I also saw Souji and Yukiko stir, as well as the non-fighters. _Wait, they're all up at the same time? Were they just pretending to be knocked out!_ Everyone got themselves to stand up and, when they finally did, they staggered over to me.

"What the hell did you do...?" Kanji was the first to ask.

"Nothing special," I said between breaths. "Just something I tried out at the last minute."

"That was amazing...!" Rise gawked. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

"I am _never_ going to doubt you again!" Yosuke declared.

"Heh... than- Wait, you doubted me?"

"Ah... N-Never mind that for now." His gaze went passed me and to the ground, and quickly got a lot colder. "Mitsuo's waking up..." I completely forgot about him. I turned around to see the orange-shirt-wearing boy pick himself off the ground. "Finally awake, huh? You've been a major pain in our ass."

"What the..." Mitsuo looked over each of us, but lingered his stare at Yukiko for a quick second. "Wh-Who the hell are you guys!"

Souji's eyes narrowed. "We came to capture you," he said. "Do you realize how much we've been through to get to you? You've got a lot of making up to do."

Mitsuo just sighed and glanced away. "The police are after you," Yosuke told him. They think you're the one who killed Morooka and the other two."

"So," I quickly said. "Are you really the killer?"

Behind him, I saw the form of his Shadow stand up again, though its head was still down. "All the cases..." Mitsuo whispered. "All on me..." His empty stare quickly turned into one of excitement. "Aha... hahaha! That's right, I did it!"

"You piece of shit!" Kanji yelled at him. "You think this is a joke!"

"And not just that bastard Morooka," the kid continued, ignoring my friend. "That stupid announcer and the Konishi bitch, too! I killed all of them! It was all me!"

Suddenly, the Shadow behind Mitsuo completely disappeared in a smog. "What the!" Rise gasped. "Wh-Where did it go?"

"He never accepted his other self," Teddie answered, "so it just vanished."

"Really?" Chie asked. "So, he doesn't have a Persona then...?"

Mitsuo turned around to check out what we were talking about. "Hahaha..." he laughed quietly. "It's gone... That frickin' monster disappeared... Take that, son of a bitch..." He then promptly fell to one knee again, gasping heavily for air.

"H-Hey!" I yelled, getting everyone's attention on him.

"We need to get him out of here," Souji said. "Let's hurry up and get this guy out!" He motioned for Yosuke to help him carry the guy out. We got out of there as quick as we could, hacking and slashing at any Shadows that got in our way. I, of course, couldn't do anything, since my cleaver frickin' snapped in two.

But I wouldn't've been able to do anything, because the moment we left the room I fell to the ground unconscious.

**

* * *

HOT DAMN this is a lot. My fingers are so sore for writing this in such a short time...**

**Ohh oh oh! Let's have a competition! Who here knows who that guy was who Andy served at Junes - the first guy? Yeah, try and guess!**

**Please leave a review or something. If you don't I'll hunt you down and slit your throat with a cleaver then go on a very nice looking boat.**

**Wait what.**


	18. Date Gone Wrong

**Hmm. Shorter this time around. Oh, well, there's something important in this chapter!**

**Reviews a go-go!**

**Astrih Konnash:** I appreciate you sending it via PM, but there were people after you that decided to spoil it *insert angry eyes here* Yes, Sandy Andy needs to get better at it so it can go through more than just a floaty baby.

**Gamerof1458:** You're expecting King's Game already? Dude, summer just started! I've got a lot more stuff planned before I get to King's Game. Please forgive me for this.

**Windmarkd10:** Sorry, that man was not his father or brother. It was Namatame (since there were other people who spoiled it, I will too). And it wasn't just a coin that killed the baby. It was the _POWER OF LOVE- _ahem, pardon me, that's a lie. It was just a _lot_ of stored up electricity. And you'll have to see what he'll do with his first pay check!

**Casey W:** Damn I should've said to send the answer to me... Well, you're right, but Astrih Konnash actually got it first. Sorry dude. And there will be dueling happening at some point. You wanna know why? 'Cause you gave me the idea. Thanks!

**yukai yami:** This chapter isn't as long, though, sorry. Yes, Namatame is correct and you come in third place. And does this story honestly pull you back? I'm surprised by that.

**I hope you enjoy this chapter~ Especially the eeeeendiiiiiing!**

**Disclaimer: Candy Andy is mine and mine alone. Everything referenced belongs to their respective owners.**

**

* * *

~July 29th~**

**~Friday~**

**~Time Unknown~**

* * *

I felt like I was moving by the time I woke up, and the fact that there was a slight breeze in my face proved it. I found my arms slung over two shoulders - my left one was draped higher than the top of my head, while my right arm was around the neck of someone shorter with long hair. "Nng..." I grunted as I opened my eyes. My body felt weak, so it was a little tricky do so. What I saw ahead of me was the regular pathway towards the entrance back to our world - in fact, I could just barely see it through the fog farther up.

"Oh! He's waking up!"

My eyes fully open now, I glanced down to my right to see Rise looking up at me. She wore a relieved smile, most likely because of me. "W-What happened...?" I asked weakly.

"You randomly passed out, that's what happened," a voice on my other side said. I craned my neck around to see Kanji not even bothering to look at me. "And you were really out of it, too."

"I was...?" I asked. "All I remember is beating that creep... Oh yeah, where is he?"

"Already gone," Rise answered. "Our senpai wanted to get him out of here as quick as they could, so they just went on."

"And they left you guys here with me?"

"She volunteered," Kanji said, glancing to the girl. "She also forced me to stay and help."

"Hey! I'm not able to lift Andrew-kun by myself!" Rise glared at him. "He's way to heavy for me to take out!"

Kanji groaned. "Whatever."

"Geez, how can anyone stand you with your 'no-care attitude'?" Rise said angrily. "It's driving me nuts."

"Well how can anyone stand bein' around a snob like _you_?" Kanji asked.

Rise opened her mouth in shock, but I spoke first: "Guys, chill out!" They both glanced at me in surprise, as if they forgot they were helping me out. "I'd appreciate it if we don't cause a racket when we get back into Junes, thank you."

"O-Oh, right... Sorry," Rise replied.

"Yeah... S-Sorry, Rise..." Kanji awkwardly apologized.

"It's alright..." she said, but I could tell that may have hurt her a little.

The rest of the trip to the stack of TVs was silent, and when we reached them I told my two friends that I could walk the rest of the way. When they let go of me, Rise slowly poked her head out through the bottom most TV. She inhaled sharply and quickly came back.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Customers?"

"Not just any customer," Rise said. "Naoto-kun's out there."

Kanji's eyes shot open, but I simply said, "Naoto?" with a raised eyebrow. "What's... he, doing here?"

"He was just looking at a TV farther down. Thankfully, his back was to me so he didn't see." Rise turned to me. "And didn't you think Naoto was a girl earlier?"

"Ah, right... That day when we all went out to Okina, when I was getting beat up by those two thugs, Naoto suddenly showed up and took one of them out." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, "Though that probably isn't a good reason to call him a dude..."

"Yeah, I'd say," Kanji agreed. Rise only nodded, then quickly poked her head out again.

She sighed and came back in. "No good. He's still out there."

"You think..." I said, my faced scrunched from thinking, "that he may be on to us?"

"Well, we... _did_ kind of tell him we've been part of the case..." Kanji sighed. "But still, why would he think there was something to do with the TV world?"

"Ah, right... That's true, I guess..." I sighed. "We'll just have to wait for him to leave then." I walked over to the railings of the platform and sat down, taking my iPod out and turning it on. The music started playing throughout the area. "If we're going to wait, we might as well listen to something," I answered the two's unasked question.

"Heh. Good call." Kanji decided to stroll over to the railing on the other side, sat down and closed his eyes. He was probably out like a light that very second.

Rise, too, strode over to us, and made the good decision of sitting _right_ next to me. She was listening to the music that was playing, and after a bit finally asked, "What song is this?"

"It's, uh... from a game," I replied, a little embarrassed. "It's from Final Fantasy XIII, and the song's called The Sunleth Waterscape..."

"Really?" she asked. "It sounds... _nice_."

"This is probably my favorite song from the game," I rested my head on the bar right behind it, and let the piano keys flow into my ears.

"So how come you suddenly passed out earlier?" the girl asked.

"I've been wondering that, too. I think it's 'cause I used up so much energy shooting my coin at the Shadow."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that! That was so cool what you did!" I glanced at Rise, who's eyes were filled with admiration. _Oh, please tell me she won't become like Kuroko. Though then again that might not be that bad. She's got the twin tails, anywho._ "So how'd you know that it'd save us like it did?"

"I, uh, didn't know. I just remembered that it was one hell of an attack and used it. Didn't actually think it would save us..."

"So... you pretty much left it to chance, then?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And _not_ your own skill."

"Technically, I used my _skills_ to do it. But yeah, actually hitting the Shadow was just pure luck."

"Huh... Well it _did_ keep us alive, so I'm alright with it."

"What, you would've preferred if I actually knew it would work?"

"Yep. It would've been much cooler if you had known that you'd save us. But, you only winged it, and because of that I'm not as impressed anymore."

"Whaaaat."

Rise looked at me with a smirk and began her fits of giggles. "I'm sorry, I'm just messing around with you."

"Oh, so I'm still cool because of that then?"

"I never said you ever were."

"WHAT!"

Her giggles turned to laughter, and I could only glare at my friend. She stopped laughing and there was a bit of silence between us. Rise spoke suddenly, "Oh, we never actually agreed on when we're going out to Okina, have we?"

"Oh, no we haven't." I thought for a second, and when I realized we may be busy tomorrow I moaned, "Chie-senpai's birthday is tomorrow, so we may not be able to go out then..."

"So, how about the day after? My grandma won't mind if she watches the shop for the day."

"I already figured that, since we've already spent a lot of time together."

"Haha, yeah, that's true too..."

There was some more silence, but after a few minutes I saw her mouth moving, as if she were speaking to herself. I also noted that her cheeks had a slightly red tint to them, and she soon nodded to herself slightly. I didn't know what about, so I just chose to ignore it for now and listen to the flow of the music.

"Oh, geez, Andrew-kun you're bleeding!"

"Huh!" I blinked in surprise and looked around my body. "Wh-Where to?" _Strange, it don't feel like I'm in pain..._

"On your forehead. Here, let me check."

At that, I was planning on turning my head to her, but before I could even think, she stood up, walked over in front of me and _OH MY GOSH SHE IS SITTING ON MY LEGS._ "Wh-What are you doing...!" I asked as calmly as I could. My face was beginning to acquire it's own shade of red.

"I'm looking at your wound, dummy. What else would I be doing?"

"W-Why are you on me like that?" I whispered this.

"Because if I were to check your forehead from that spot," she pointed to where she had been sitting to, "then the railing would've gotten in my way."

"But, uh... I don't think I've been wounded. And besides, wouldn't _you_ be in pain, too?"

Her eyes widened in an 'oh bloody hell' manner. "U-Uh..." She then quickly grasped her head in (supposed) pain. "Argh! O-Oh, man, I'm in pain... Oww!"

"Um..." If my life were an anime, this is where I would sweat drop. "I know you're only faking it."

Her eyes opened. "Oh, right. Geez, how could I forget about _that_?" She shook her head, and looked me in the eyes. "Aw well, might as well keep going."

"Huh?"

Before I knew it Rise edged a little closer to me and put her arms on my shoulders, tightly gripping them and firmly keeping me in place. She took a little breath, closed her eyes and started to lean her head closer to mine. _W-W-WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING! OH MY GOD I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS TODAY!_ Time seemed to slow down around me as her face inched nearer to me. Her lips were puckered and were just waiting to press themselves against my own. My stomach was hurting in both nervousness, excitement and anticipation.

_**'Is this not what you wanted?'**_

_Y... Yeah... Yeah, it is what I've wanted!_ Doing my best to ignore the butterflies in my stomach, I closed my own eyes and readied myself for my very first kiss ever.

"Wh-What the hell are you two doing!"

_W-WHAAAAAAAAAT! KANJI NO __**BAKA**__!_

Rise stopped dead in her tracks and, muttering a _very _rude comment, turned around and cheerfully said, "I thought I saw a wound on Andrew-kun's forehead, so I was just making sure."

"Huh? Th-That doesn't mean you have to sit on his lap!"

"I wouldn't have been able to work well if my arm was against the railing here," and she tapped the bar next to my head for good measure. "Hey, wait, I thought you were asleep!"

"I was just resting my eyes! I only opened them for a second and saw you two goin' at it!"

"G-G-G-" I suddenly found myself unable to speak.

"It wasn't like _that_," Rise sighed, getting up off my legs. "Like I said, I thought I saw blood, so I had to examine it for myself."

Kanji simply stared at us, not buying any of it at all, but chose to end the argument there. He stood up, walked towards the TVs and carefully stuck his head through them. He pulled himself back out and said, "There's no one there now. We can go."

"Okay!" Rise nodded. She looked down at me and extended a hand, "You coming with us or not?"

"Ehhh... R-Right..." I took her hand and allowed her to pull me up. I glanced over to the TVs and saw Kanji's foot slip into the middle one. The moment he disappeared I turned to Rise. "Um-"

"Later."

"Huh? B-But-"

"_Later_." And before I knew it, she, too had went through the TVs. I just stood there like an idiot, staring at the bottom TV.

_S-So... I'm confused. Why did she...?_

_**'Hm hm hm... It seems love's seedling has begun to blossom.'**_

_Wh-What? Where the hell did that come from!_

_**'That doesn't matter now. Aren't you going back to the other side?'**_

"Huh? O-Oh shit!" I quickly regained my lost sense and crawled through the TV stack as well.

* * *

So, after that, Souji called my phone and told me they were all at the food court. When we got there, he and the others told us that Mitsuo admitted to killing the three victims, all because he wanted attention. I didn't know what to think of that, because somehow each of my thoughts wound up going back to earlier. The thoughts of the murderer and the case left my mind quickly, and the conversations of the others was completely drowned out by my own chat with the dragon in my head.

_So... does Rise-chan... like me like that?_

_**'I don't see why she would attempt to kiss you if she didn't.'**_

_I guess you're right... But couldn't she have said something about it?_

_**'There was not enough time to do so. Kanji had already left, and to make it not seem suspicious you both had to leave without a word.'**_

_Yeah..._

I chose then to start listening to my friends talking, but it was then that I noticed they were all looking at me. "H-Huh? Wh-What're you all looking at?"

"Oh, nothing!" Chie said. "Rise-chan said that she thought she saw some blood on your forehead, and we were just looking to make sure."

"Oh, I... I see." I glanced to my right when the others started talking again. Rise was staring intently at me, and she quickly mouthed, 'Not a word of it.' I wanted to talk about it now, but I knew I had to keep quiet in front of the others, so I simply nodded.

* * *

After that, Rise suggested the idea of having a celebration for finishing the case. We all agreed to it and decided to have it at Souji's house. Teddie wanted to have it back at the inn in my room, but the girls insisted that we couldn't have it there, for some reason. They were all flustered at the thought of it, even Rise. We also decided to have a cooking competition, where the winner would be named 'Iron Cook Inaba.' I wasn't a very good cook, so I chose to be a taster with Kanji and Teddie while the girls plus Souji would make the meals. Yosuke would just be there, I guess.

I then found myself in the food department of Junes, where the girls said that they would get ingredients for their own kind of omelette, which was requested by Nanako over the phone. She'll be celebrating with us, but we told her it was only for no reason.

When the girls began to split up to find the ingredients, Rise asked me to come along with her. I said yes without thinking, and we made our way to the spices section (of course).

"So, um..." I started. She didn't interrupt me, so that was a sign for me to continue. "What were you... trying to do earlier ...?"

"You really want to know why?" she asked without turning to me.

I swallowed, already feeling the temperature in my cheeks rising. "Yeah."

Rise hesitated, then sighed. "I was just... curious, is all."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Curious...? About what?"

"Ah, well... You see, being an idol, I've already... um, kissed a lot of boys..."

"Uhh, yeah... Go on..."

"But they were only in front of the cameras for films or whatever. I never actually kissed anyone away from the set."

"So you were just... experimenting?"

"No, no, not like that!" She decided to turn to me then. "It was just... I wanted to know how it felt. To kiss someone for real, not going along with the script or anything..."

"And you chose me to... do so."

"Y-Yeah. Out of all the guys I know here, you're the closest to me. I wouldn't have tried for the others because I don't know them as well as I know you. And besides," she looked away slightly and her cheeks reddened, "I already know you like me like that."

"H... H... H-HUH?" My own face became as red as blood. "Y-Y-You know! Since when, for how long!"

Rise started chuckling to herself. "Way back when you guys rescued me. You asked if what my Shadow said - that I was in love with you - was true, and when I said it wasn't you got all depressed."

"Uh, I-I was?"

"Yeah, of course you were." She smiled brightly, "And there were signs, y'know. You were always hanging out with me instead of the others, and you were willing to help me with the exams instead of Kanji... Oh, and you didn't stop me when I was about to kiss you earlier."

"...Huh." I laughed embarrassedly. "Was it that obvious...?"

"Mmhmm."

"S-So, um..."

"Not right now."

"Huh? I didn't even ask anything!"

"I knew you what you were gonna ask, though."

"Which was...?"

"'Can we actually kiss now.' And the answer is no."

I was at a loss for words. "Wh... Why not?"

Rise was still laughing her heart out. "Because we need to get the ingredients for my omelette like, now. And if we don't hurry everyone will think something weird is happening."

"Oh, r-right." I did _not_ want them thinking that. "Sssssoooo..."

"Tomorrow." Rise's smile turned playful, "_Maaaaybe._"

"Uh-! W-Wha...!"

"Hahaha! It's so easy to tease you, you know!"

"...Mmmm..."

**

* * *

~6:30PM~**

After sending Kanji away to put back the alcohol he had and dragging Teddie away from the free-samples table, we made our way to Souji's house with the ingredients. Nanako was _very_ surprised to see so many people enter her home, but she accepted us all as if we were lifelong friends.

Rise, Yukiko and Chie were busy working in the kitchen while Teddie and Nanako were sitting at the living room table. Kanji, me and our senpai were at the _other_ table, and as Souji was working on his own meal, I decided to bring up the case again.

"So that Mitsuo guy killed Mr. Morooka and the others just because he wanted to be noticed?" I asked.

"It's true," Souji replied dejectedly, not looking up from his work. "I know that any other reason wouldn't be good, but just to be seen by other people..." He trailed off at that.

"I can't believe Saki-senpai had to die because of him," Yosuke muttered.

"'Long as the prick's behind bars, I'm happy," Kanji said, nodding to himself. "No one will die because of him ever again now."

"You sure 'ever'?" I asked him. "Who knows, when he gets out of prison he may just start up again..."

"I don't think he'll be seeing the outside anytime soon," Yosuke said. "Taking the lives of three people would most likely give you a _long_ sentence."

"True..." I responded.

"Kanji, pass me the soy sauce, would you?" Souji said, extending his hand towards the guy.

"Ah, sure thing," Kanji said as he picked up the bottle and handed it to him.

"Thanks."

"So how's it coming along, senpai?" I asked him, looking at the food.

"Almost ready," he replied happily. He glanced back to the girls, "We'll be able to enjoy at least _one_ digestible meal this evening, thankfully."

"You sure we should have Nanako-chan be a tester, too?" Yosuke turned to Souji. "She may wind up poisoned by the girls' food..."

"_I heard that_!" Chie yelled, throwing a bottle of ketchup right at his head.

"Ow!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," Souji said, laughing at his friend's expense. "Besides, I'll make sure she doesn't have more than she needs."

"Wow." Kanji sounded impressed at something. "Being our leader, having top grades, doing all of those jobs you have, being a good cook, and making sure Nanako stays healthy... And plus, that whole thing with you not having to face your shadow... Geez, you're amazing, senpai."

"Oh?" Souji actually looked up from his work, "You think so?"

"Well, yeah," Kanji continued. "Not everyone can do all those things plus more. If I were you I wouldn't be able to stand all that pressure."

"It's easier than it sounds, honestly."

"I highly doubt that," I said.

"Well, either way," Souji stood up straight and wiped his brow, "my omelette is now complete."

We all looked at his prepared dish. "Wow, that looks good!" I exclaimed. "My mouth's already beginning to water. Are the others done yet?"

"I don't think yet," Yosuke replied. "We've got a bit more time before we become sick to the stomach."

"Alright then, can I get you to heat it up for me?" Souji asked him. "I'm gonna check on Nanako and Ted."

"Okay." Yosuke took up his friend's plate and brought it over to the oven while Souji went into the living room.

"So."

"Hm?" I turned my head to Kanji. "Wha?"

"What was that all about earlier?"

"Huh? Whaddaya mean?"

"You know what I mean. Back in the TV world before the three of us came out."

_Oh THAT. ...Oh SHIT._ "It's... just as Rise-chan said."

"I highly doubt that," Kanji smirked.

"Hey hey, you can't just go using something I said not one minute ago."

"Sure, whatever. But that's not the reason is it?"

"Th-That doesn't matter now. Let's just talk about something else." Thinking of an idea, I leaned in closer to Kanji and whispered, "So, out of the three girls on the team, who's your favorite?"

"Wha-! Th-The hell are you talking about!"

"I thought you said before that you were okay around girls now. So! Who's your favorite?"

"W-We can't be talking about them when we're this close!"

"Sure we can, if we keep our voices low and not shout. You seem to be failing at that though."

"Dude, shut up!"

"It's reeeeeeaaaaadyyyyyyyy!" I craned my neck around to see Rise walking towards us with her own omelette in her hands. It was... very, very red. "C'mon boys, time to eat! Incoming food, look out!"

"Ahaha, alright alright!"

* * *

"Wait, hang on a sec," Yosuke paused us before we could dig in. "Asking Nanako-chan to jump in and try these for us is kinda... unethical."

I ignored the giant vein appearing on Chie's head. "Yeah, that's right," I said. "So we've decided to taste the food first to see if we're able to keep it down."

"Oh, I see what you're gettin' at..." Kanji nodded with a smile.

"I know you'll be able to keep _my _omelette down, but I don't know about the other ones..." Rise said to me, gaining her two angry glares from Chie and Yukiko. The redhead turned to Souji and Yosuke and said, "You guys try mine first! You're the only two testers here who haven't tried my cooking yet."

"Wait, I have?" Kanji asked. His eyes shot open and he mumbled, "Oh, crap, that's right!"

"Actually, I've been looking forward to yours," Souji said to the redhead. "I've already tried Chie-chan's and Yukiko-chan's food before, so I'm wanting to try something new now." He picked up his chopsticks and clacked them together, "Well, bon appetite!" He took a piece of Rise's really red omelette and popped it in his mouth. When he did, there was no reaction, and he just left his chopsticks in his mouth with his happy expression. But as the seconds passed his whole face turned red and he started to sweat. He quickly put his hands to his throat and coughed. "W-Water..."

"S-Senpai! Hang on, I'll get you some!" Kanji swiftly stood up, ran over to the kitchen and came back with a large glass filled with water. Souji snatched it from his hands, ignoring the droplets of water staining the carpet, and chugged the whole thing in less than five seconds.

"Haaa... Haaa..." Souji gasped for air as he slammed the glass down onto the table. "Th-Thank you, Kanji... I never expected it to be _this_ spicy..."

"Oh! Oh oh oh ohohohoh!" I quickly picked up my own chopsticks, "Here, let me have some!" I reached directly across from me to the other side of the table and took a bit off of Rise's omelette. Sticking it in my mouth I allowed it to burn my tongue alive. "A-Aaah... This is hot, so very hot..."

"You like it?" Rise asked me. "I did my best with it!"

"Here, try mine next!" Yukiko said to us.

"Oh, I'll take this one!" Kanji said and picked up a rather large portion of Yukiko's food.

"K-Kanji, that's a lot..." Yosuke muttered, but the big guy didn't listen. He stuffed it in his mouth and started chewing it, but he suddenly stopped. There was a look of confusion on his face, and he took some more of Yukiko's omelette and ate it. Now he was _really_ confused, so he took yet another bite of it.

Yukiko was getting worried, "H-Hey, say something."

"It tastes really..." Kanji was trying to find the right words with difficulty. "Um... boneless?"

"What?" Yukiko shouted. "That's not a word you use to describe taste! Does it taste good or not! Tell me!"

"Here, lemme try this." Yosuke took a bit of it and plopped it in his mouth. His calm expression quickly turned to confusion as well. "What the... I can't taste anything!"

"Yeah..." Kanji agreed. "It's like... like I'm eating plain oatmeal..."

"Seriously?" I, too, picked a bit off of the now-almost-gone omelette and ate it. _W-Whoa. I can't taste any of the ingredients at all... The hell?_ "Wow... That's strange. And you put so many ingredients in there, too. How did it come out tasting like nothing?"

"Wha-" Yukiko was shocked. "Y-Your palates just aren't refined enough!"

It was then that Nanako decided to test this for herself. She plucked a tiny bit off of the omelette and put it in her small mouth. After chewing and considering its blandness, she said, "I think it tastes good."

Yukiko was struck in the heart by this, and Chie quickly took this opportunity to speak up. "O-Okay... Try mine next. Um, I dunno about this, but I think it'll taste good! This time for sure!"

"I'll give it a whirl!" Teddie declared. He took off a piece and ate it. He swished it around in his mouth and finally swallowed it.

"H-How is it...?" Chie asked hesitantly.

"Wow!" Teddie cheered. "That tasted awful!" Not hearing Chie's shout of shock, the bear turned to me, "You have to try this, Andy!"

"Uh... S-Sure I... guess..." Reaching passed Rise and Nanako, I took a little bit off the side and put it in my mouth. _GOOD GOD THIS TASTES LIKE SOMETHING REALLY REALLY... BAD-LIKE._ I did my best to quickly chew it up and swallow it. The so-called omelette threatened to rise through my stomach again, and I had to force it down.

"H-Hey, are you alright?" Rise asked me, shock all over her face.

"Yeah..." I said. "Actually, wait, no, I'm not. Teddie's right, this _is _bad."

"I'll test this," Souji mustered up enough courage to try it. The moment he put it in his mouth, though, he regretted it. "Bleh..." he groaned. "W-Well, um..." he turned to Chie, "it's a huge improvement over the curry..."

Chie sighed and hung her head in shame. "Yeah, thanks for the consolation," she replied sarcastically. "I feel soooo much better now..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nanako reaching over to Chie's dish. "Oh crap, no Nanako-chan wait!" I was too late: the little Dojima had already put the piece of omelette in her mouth.

Cringing slightly at the taste, she cheerfully looked over to Chie and said, "I think this tastes good too."

"Nanako-chan...!" Chie smiled widely. Yukiko decided to take a bite of her friend's as well. When she ate it, she realized what we were talking about. "Oh yeah, they're right..." And then she went into another laughing spree. "They're totally right! It _does_ taste awful! Ahahahaha!"

Chie groaned at her 'best friend'. "Th-Then try Rise-chan's! I bet you anything mine tastes better than hers!"

"Alright then!" Yukiko giggled as she took the food of a beaming Rise. The moment she plopped it in her mouth, she gagged and hit the floor, _dead_. ...Well, unconscious, knocked out, whatever. Same thing.

"S-Senpai!" Rise screamed.

"Whoa." I wasn't actually that fazed. "One strike was all it took."

"Well, um..." Yosuke awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yukiko and Chie's didn't taste good either, but... at least theirs didn't have any casualties... Haha..."

"H-Huh!" Rise stared at him with a hurt look. "I-It's a taste too subtle for kids! It's a mature flavour!"

"Then I must be really mature then. Heheh..." I chuckled to myself.

I didn't see Nanako take a bite for herself before it was too late. Her little face scrunched at the spiciness of Rise's omelette, but she forced her smile back and said, "I-It's spicy, but it's still good!"

"N-Nanako-chan!" Rise practically tackled the small girl in a big hug. "I knew it! I knew you'd like it!"

"Oh, hey, senpai," Kanji glanced over to Souji. "What about yours? I forgot all about it."

"Oh!" Souji seemed to have, too. "And it was right in front of us this whole time... How could I forget about that?"

"This is yours?" Nanako shouted and hurriedly stuff a bit in her mouth. Her eyes shot open, but this time in amazement. "This is really good! I've never had an omelette with fried rice this good! It's amazing!" I was tempted to try some too, but I chose to let Nanako have it all. _Dammit I want some now._

After all of that transpired, Souji suddenly excused himself from the table. He walked up the stairs and when he came down, he had in his arms-

"W-Whoa! That cake is huge!" I exclaimed as my senpai brought it down.

"Wow...! It looks so yummy!" Nanako said in awe.

"W-Wait a sec! Is that's for me?" Chie shouted as her eyes graced it.

"Yep!" Souji nodded, setting it down on the table. "Yosuke, Yukiko-chan and I all pitched in to buy it for you a few days ago. I figured now would be the best time to bring it down since we're all here."

"W-Wait, we're celebrating Chie-senpai's birthday _now_?" Rise's eyes widened. "Oh what the hell! I didn't even get her anything!"

"Uh, well..." Souji chuckled nervously. "N-None of us did. We thought it would be easier to just have a cake and no presents..."

"U-Um, actually-!" Yosuke said, but quickly shut his mouth. "Wait no never mind."

"Er, alright." Souji walked over to the kitchen and brought back nine forks, one for each of us. He even brought one for Yukiko, even though she was still out cold. "Well then, let's eat!"

"Hey hey hey!" Teddie yelled. "Aren't we supposed to sing 'Happy Birthday' first?"

"Uh- S-Seriously Ted?" I sighed. "Who does that anymore?"

"I do! So c'mon, let's sing!"

"Ugh... Fiiiine." Everyone cleared their throats and sang,

"_Happy birthday to you!_

_Happy birthday to you!_

_Happy birthday dear Chie~_

_Happy birthday to you!_"

"T-Thanks you guys...!" Chie cried. _Wait, she actually _is_ crying!_ "This is the best b-birthday I've ever had...!"

"Ah-!" Kanji, who was right next to her, quickly looked around. "D-Don't cry, senpai! I-It's kinda contagious, y'know!"

"Y-You're right!" Chie said, trying to keep her tears back. "Let's just eat!"

"Agreed!" Rise cheered, and stuck her fork into the cake. Instead of how I thought we'd have it, by cutting it up into slices for all of us, we actually just ate off the thing. I guess I should've realized this with the omelettes earlier, but still...

"Ugh..."

I looked down to my right to see Yukiko beginning to stir. "Oh, Yukiko-senpai's coming around!"

Everyone stopped their chow time to look over to the black-clothed second-year. "Yukiko!" Chie gasped. "Are you alright?"

"Nrg..." Yukiko grumbled as she sat herself up. "W-What happened...?"

"You passed out eating Rise's omelette," Kanji answered nonchalantly. This earned him a big glare from the redhead to my left. "What? It's true!"

"You don't need to say it like that, though!" Rise shouted at him.

"Huh? What's the cake for...?" Yukiko said weakly, staring at it.

"It's for Chie's birthday," Yosuke answered. He pointed to the spot on the table in front of her. "There's a fork there for you, if you want."

"Hm?" She looked down and picked up the silverware, then back at the cake. "Oh that's right... I don't really want to gain too much weight, but I guess I'll have a bit."

"Alright!" Teddie shouted. "The whole gang's having some now! This is really _is_ a birthday party!"

"It _was_ one when senpai brought the cake down," I said to him, but he chose to ignore me. I sighed at his ignorance and ate the cake with the others. And _DAMN_ was it a good one.

**

* * *

~10:00PM~**

Once the cake was gone, Yosuke suddenly stood up and proposed we all go to the festival at the shopping district when it comes. Teddie was ecstatic at the thought of seeing the girls in yukata, but I didn't really see what the big deal was - it was just extravagant clothing, right? I mean I don't mind yukata, so to say, but I've never really understood why they're so special. I chose to dismiss those thoughts after thinking about it for a while.

After a little while longer of random chats and jabs at one another, it was time for us to go back to our homes. When Teddie, Yukiko and I were half-way to the inn, I remembered that Rise and I didn't have a set time to meet at the train station. Taking out my cell, I sent her an e-mail.

_~hey we never agreed on a time to meet at the station. when should we?~_

After about a minute, she sent one back reading:

_**~i don't care. anytime's good with me! ;)~**_

_~then how about 11:30? we could get lunch there then go to the movie~_

_**~okay! :D i'll see you then!~**_

"Who was that?" I glanced over to my left to see Yukiko and Teddie looking up at me.

"Uh, that was, uh, my friend! F-From back home!" I lied. "Y-Yeah, he was just wondering how I was holding up out here..."

"Hmm, alright."

**

* * *

~July 30th~**

**~Saturday~**

**~11:35AM~**

* * *

"HEEEEY!" I managed to pick Rise out of the crowd of people waiting for the train. She was the only one who was waving me over, so it was fairly easy. I pushed my way through the crowd with 'pardon me's and 'excuse me's. When I managed to reach her I saw that she was wearing somewhat short-shorts (half-way up her upper legs) and an orange and red tank-top. She also had this tiny little necklace around her neck; from where I stood it looked like a heart. She was wearing something else, too: an angry face. "Geez, took you long enough! I thought we said we'd meet at eleven-thirty!"

"It's only five minutes after that!" I responded, checking my phone's clock. "I don't need to be here _exactly_ on time do I?"

"Of course you do! Being right on time makes you a better person overall! It show's that you aren't lazy!"

"Either that or I could actually be crazy..." I chuckled at my joke which she didn't seem to get. "Sorry, though. Ted kept pestering me to see where I was going. I actually got him to go to work without me, but he's still suspicious of us..."

"Well it can't be helped. We'll just have to stay suspicious."

"Hm hm, right." _Hey wait a sec... I smell something... nice._ "Do you smell something?"

Rise sniffed the air, but quickly came to a conclusion. "Ohh, it's probably the perfume I put on."

"You put perfume on?" _Just for ME?_ "It smells... really good!"

"Thanks!"

I heard the train's whistle from a distance, and the two of us boarded when it came around.

**

* * *

~1:00PM~**

The two of us had a light lunch (because I just ate breakfast and Rise wasn't that hungry) before we walked towards the theatre. There were a couple of movies playing: one romance, one comedy, and (unfortunately) one horror. That one horror was also rated 'R', and just by the poster I could tell that it'd be a gore-fest.

"That one there!" Rise pointed to the poster. "'The Risen'! It looks awesome!"

"You sure you don't want to see it just 'cause it's your name, plus an 'n'?"

"No way! I've been looking forward to this for a while! C'mon, let's go get our tickets!" She grasped my hand and pulled me towards the ticket booth.

"B-But aren't we too young to watch this?"

"We'll get in! Just you wait and see." Rise dragged me right to the booth and looked at the lady behind it. "Two tickets for 'The Risen' please!"

The lady raised an eyebrow and looked between us. "Aren't you two a little too young to watch that?" _Exactly what I said._

"Nope!" Rise reached into her pocket and pulled out a 2000 yen bill. She slid it beneath the opening in that glass. "No we are not..."

The woman gasped and, quickly glancing around the mall, took the bill and stuffed it in her pocket. "T-That'll be 1600 yen for both of you."

"Okay!" Rise nodded, then turned to me expectedly.

"Hmm?" I was confused as Rise lowered her eyelids in a 'you're-kidding-me' way. "Wait, _I'm_ paying?"

"Yeah, duh!" Rise put her fists on her hips. "The guy always pays when on a date, right?"

_HOLY SCIENCE TEXT BOOKS THIS REALLY IS A DATE._ "Uh- R-Right!" Taking out my wallet, I retrieved a 1000 yen bill, a 500 yen coin and a 100 coin, and handed it to the woman. "Here you go!"

"Thank you!" the woman said cheerfully. She handed us our tickets and Rise and I were on our way in.

"Uh... Aren't 2000 yen bills rare or something?" I asked the girl beside me.

"Yeah. But being an idol _and_ owning a tofu shop gets you a greater chance at getting 'em."

"Aha, I see. So you got anymore of them?"

"Yep. But you're not getting any. Besides, you owe me 1200 yen now."

"What, why? It wasn't _my_ idea to come see this movie!"

"But I'm still down 2000 yen. Getting the ticket for me was 800 yen, so you still have to give me back 1200."

"Dammit!"

_**

* * *

OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE IS **__not that bad actually._ Rise seemed to be more scared than I was. Either that or she just wanted to make me lose all circulation to my arm. I didn't mind at all, though, 'cause she was actually latching on to me for the majority of the movie. I couldn't feel my arm for a while, but that's okay.

Once the so-called 'horror' film was over, I found myself walking outside with a redhead attached to my arm. "So, uh, did you enjoy the movie?"

"Huh!" Her eyes quickly darted up to me. "Y-Yes, I did! How'd you find it?"

"It was okay. Some parts were a little frightening, but you were there with me so it wasn't all that bad."

"W-What?" her cheeks burned red. "Oh, r-right! If you say so..."

"Okay, then, where to now?" I asked, quickly checking my phone. "It's only two-thirty now, so we still got a few hours before we should go back to Inaba."

"Mmm..." She quickly looked around the area and said, "How about the arcade? It's been a while since I went to one..."

"Ooh, okay! But you're paying for your own games."

"Agh, fine. Just remember to pay me back sometime."

"Hai, hai..." As we walked closer to it, I happened to notice something. "So, uh, are you going to be clinging to me the whole day? 'Cause I don't mind-"

"Gah! S-Sorry!"

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon...!"

"Haha, I'm gonna beat ya!"

"Oh no you're not! No way I'm gonna-"

_=ERRRR. PLAYER ONE WINS=_

"WHAT! HOW!" I smashed my face into the steering wheel. "She doesn't even _play_ games! How the hell did I lose!"

Rise's fit of laughter was _not_ helping. "Just admit I won, you sore loser!"

"No, never!" I turned to my left, "We'll keep playing every game until there is a definite winner!"

"Hmhmhm..." The twin tails before me chuckled... almost evilly. "You're going down in all of them!"

"We'll see about that!"

* * *

Okay. So.

We did actually wind up playing every single arcade game there, and even then we were tied 20-20. It's like some badly-written anime or story or something where the two characters are different in every aspect, yet equal in the same way. Confusing, isn't it?

"Isn't it strange that the arcade has _exactly_ forty games?" I asked Rise as we sipped our drinks. We decided to take a break and walk back to the food court to get something to drink, since we were practically parched by then.

"Hmm, yeah," Rise nodded. "Oh! Or maybe they deliberately turned that one 'out of order' game off so we'd have a tie."

"Ahh! The bastards! We should go back in there and check."

"Naw, there's no need to. Whatever it is, I'd win anyways."

"How can you be so sure?" I smirked, "What if it's like a shooting one? Or a fighter? You lost at those, didn't you?"

"That doesn't matter. I'd just have to cheat my way to victory."

"And how would that work?"

"I'd have to... _distract_ you in some way..."

My face got hot. "...Huh?"

Rise started giggling again. "Man, it's easy to get you flustered. Yet it's still so funny to watch!" I simply groaned at her, but suddenly she stopped laughing.

"Hm? What's wrong?" I asked her.

She blinked all of a sudden and shook her head. "N-Nothing. I just thought I saw something."

"Like what?"

"Like that hoodie Yosuke-senpai lost, though it's most likely a different one."

"Yeah, probably. That one is lost, anyhow. Gone down the side of that platform."

"Mhm." Rise shook her can of pop around and, hearing no more liquid splash around, quickly shot it into the near-by recycling bin, basket-ball style. And she actually managed to get it in. "Huh! Didn't think it'd make it in."

"Bah! Lucky shot." I chuckled and did a similar toss. It also landed in the bin. "See? _That_ wasn't luck."

"No, that _was _luck." Rise chuckled. Changing the subject, she said, "So now where to?"

"I dunno. Wanna just walk around?"

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

We decided to walk around and just look for store to go into. During our trip Rise wanted to go into this one clothing store known as 'Croco Fur.' How the hell they came up with a name like that, I don't even know. I mean, c'mon, crocodiles don't have fur.

It wasn't just a clothing store, though, which actually gave me an idea.

"Um, excuse me?" I whispered, trying to make sure Rise didn't hear.

"Yes, how can I help you?" the cashier asked, also keeping her voice low.

"I was wondering how much this pink one costs."

"This one?"

"Yeah."

"It's 30,000 yen."

"Uh... I-I see. Thanks." I quickly turned back to my friend, who was busy looking at a rather short t-shirt. "Find anything you like?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, this looks nice, but I spent all of my money on those arcade games..."

"Yeah, same. We'll have to come back and get it later."

"Ye- 'We'll'?"

"Uh, yeah, if you want..."

"Ohhh," Rise fully turned to me with a big grin, "so you're, like, asking me out on another date, aren't you?"

_Heh? I was? I-I-I mean of course I was!_ "Uh, yeah! S-So, do you wanna-"

"Sure!"

"I-I didn't even finish-"

"I know!"

**

* * *

~4:00PM~**

_Wow, we spent a long out here..._ Rise and I had walked to a lot of different shops, like a pastries shop, a music store, and a video game store, to my earnest request. We were about to hop on the 4:10 train when Rise suddenly squeaked.

"Hmm? What's up?" I asked, turning to her.

"I, uhhhhhh..." Her face reddened. "I gotta go pee."

"H-" My own face flushed. "D-Don't say that here! If you need to go, go!"

"Um, right, sorry!" Rise quickly spun around and ran for the bathrooms.

I sighed, but found myself snickering nonetheless. _Better find a place to sit down..._ Luckily there just so happened to be a set of benches right next to the hall to the bathrooms, so I sat myself in the one facing towards its entrance.

There were a lot of people around the mall today, walking in and out of stores and chatting amongst themselves. Actually, I thought I saw a strangely familiar blue cap, but it quickly left my sights. "I was probably just imagining things..."

And then the pain came so suddenly.

"Guh! A-ARGH!" I had to lean over and clutch my head from the immenseness of it. It felt as if my head were splitting open from my brain, and that my head would just 'asplode any second now. In fact, it felt the same as back then-

_OH MY GOD RISE-CHAN MUST BE PANICKING!_ That was the only conclusion I could come to. Forcing myself off the bench, I walked to the bathrooms as quick as I could, and let me tell you with a migraine the size of the one I was having, I was walking pretty slowly. When I finally got to the women's bathroom, it occurred to me that Rise's presence _wasn't_ coming from the bathroom; instead, it was further down, right around a corner. "R-Rise-chan, hang on...!" I quickened my pace despite the terrifying pain, and when I finally got to the corner, I heard her voice. _No, wait, it's like... something's covering her mouth!_

"Haa... I finally got you..."

I gasped. I heard another voice from around the corner, and by the sounds of it the guy wasn't a friendly one.

"Do you realize how long I've been waiting for this! A whole _fucking _month! Ever since the day you came here, I've just had to claim you for myself! But no, you had to start hanging out with that dipshit foreigner! And if that keeps happening, I'll wind up losing another one, just like the last two! So I'm making my move _now_!"

_Who the hell is this guy? And wait, why the hell am I just standing here!_

"_What the frig do you think you're doing!_" I yelled as I turned the corner. I gasped even louder when I saw the scene: a man with a hood over his head had Rise pinned to the wall, a gloved hand over her mouth and a malicious grin plastered on his face. The girl herself was desperately trying to escape his grip, but even she couldn't shake the guy off. She was also crying, and the moment she saw me she started yelling hysterically, even though not a word could be spoken.

"What the-" the guy screamed. He turned to me, but I couldn't see his face well - most of the hood he was wearing was covering his eyes, and he also had a handkerchief over his mouth. And now that I think about it, that hoodie looked familiar... "What the fuck are you doing here! How did you know!"

"Doesn't matter!" I yelled back. "What the hell do you think you're doing to here!"

His scowl quickly became an evil smirk. "Now wouldn't you like to know...?"

"Don't toy with me! _Get your fucking hands off her!_" I didn't know what I was doing, but before I realized it I was running for the guy, my arm reared back and ready for a punch. His grin just went even wider, and he brought his hand down from Rise's mouth and pulled something out of his pocket.

The moment I went for a hit, I felt something.

Something sharp.

It didn't hurt at first, but it did make me stop running. "What..." It was a little difficult to speak, and I was having trouble breathing.

Rise was petrified with fear. Her eyes grew even smaller and the tears were flowing endlessly. "A..." Her lips were trembling, and she was staring at my stomach. "Andrew..."

I finally chose to look down, to where I felt the sharp thing.

I dropped to my knees. There, in my stomach.

A knife.

"_**ANDREW-KUN!**_" Rise suddenly started kicking and screaming a _lot_ harder, trying to force the guy off of her. He wasn't moving, so Rise went down a level and landed a solid blow to his nads. The guy wailed in pain and backed off. She really wasn't having any of it. Rise was immediately at my side, even though she, too, was feeling the pain. "A-Andrew-kun say something! A-Are you okay?"

"I'm-" It hurt to even breath. "I..." I glanced over to my friend. Her face was covered in tears, and there was a bit of snot running down her nose.

"No! NO! You're gonna be okay! You will, I promise!" She wrapped her arms around me and buried her wet face into my shoulder, "You're okay, you hear me? You'll be fine!" I couldn't say anything, on account for there being a knife jammed into my gut.

"Tch... Damn _piece of shit_!" Before I knew it, a gloved hand suddenly grabbed Rise by her hair and dragged her upwards. She yelped in pain from the tugging, "You'll pay for that!" and was, without warning, punched square in the cheek.

"_GAH!_" she cried. Again and again, the mysterious figure struck his fist right into her jaw. She tried to kick him again, but he was holding her out too far for her short legs to reach him. Once again, my head was splitting open, and I felt like I could go unconscious at any moment. I was abruptly sprayed with blood, and I noticed that there was now a stream of it flowing down Rise's lips. _Oh God... I-Is this hers...?_

"You like that, huh? Don't you!" the man yelled. Now he decided to actually smash her face right onto her knee. Even more blood went flying, and by the pains in my brain I could tell that it hurt.

"A-AAH! N-NO, STOP, _PLEASE_!"

"_SHUT UP!_"

"_Let go of her!_"

The attacker stopped and looked behind me. I did my best to turn my head around as well. I guess I wasn't seeing things earlier. That blue hat I had thought I saw was standing behind me with his gun pointed right at the villain.

_Wait a minute, GUN?_

"I said, let go of her," Naoto spat at the man.

He didn't do nothing at all, just stared at the little detective. He quickly glanced between Rise (who was silently sobbing to herself), me (I just noticed that I'm in a pool of _my own blood_) and Naoto, who hadn't moved an inch either.

"Damn..." the guy muttered. "Why am I always going after these bitches and whores, anyways...?"

Moving all too quickly, the hooded man threw Rise towards me, but I used my quick reaction time (it's from games) to catch her before she could hit me. He then reached into his pocket, yanked out _another_ knife, and threw that with some really good precision at Naoto. He, too, acted quickly, and rolled away from the blade before it could penetrate his skin. He looked back up and aimed his revolver again, but the man had already run out the back door farther down.

"Dammit...!" Naoto cursed. He quickly put the gun away and ran straight to me and Rise. "Are you two alright?"

"N-Not really..." I replied between heavy breaths. "Kinda got a... knife in my gut..."

"Ri-Right. I've already alerted the paramedics, they should be on their way as we speak."

"Yeah..." I looked down, passed the knife that I was doing my best to ignore. Rise was lying down on my knees, her hands covering her most likely bruised, swollen, and beat-up face. I didn't know what to say to her, to try and make her feel better, so I just opted to stroke her hair in an attempt to calm her down. It partially worked, but I soon found myself on the verge of tears.

"Andrew-kun..." Rise suddenly spoke through her hands.

"H-Hey..." I weakly said. The pain in my gut was quickly overtaking my senses, but I tried to keep myself as calm as possible. "Y-You ok-... kay...?"

"W-What about you...? You're the one who got stabbed..."

I did my best to chuckle, but it only came as a cough. "It's nothing... D-Don't worry about me..."

"B-But...!"

"Shh..." I stroked her hair again. "W-We'll be fine, okay? W-We'll be... just fine..."

"You're surprisingly calm for someone with a knife in him," Naoto said, almost amusingly.

I glanced at him with a smirk. "Heh. I should p-probably thank you...This is the s-second time you've come to my r-rescue here..."

"I wish there was more I could do," Naoto admitted. "But we should wait for the ambulance to arrive. Removing the knife now will only make the pain worse. I apologise, but we must leave it for now."

"O-Okay... I trust you..."

"How is she?"

I looked back down at Rise, whose hands were still over her face. "I-I'm fine..." she said softly. "I just feel a little bit of pain... Kinda hurts to talk, too..."

"Then d-don't," I said. "S-Save your energy..."

"Mmm..."

**

* * *

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN**

**Was anyone expecting that? I hope not.**

**So anyone have any questions as to why this happened? Or maybe you want to comment on it. I strongly advise you to hit that button below this paragraph that says 'Review this Chapter' and write something there.**

**I can't wait to hear what you think! Bye for now!**


	19. Interrupted

**I'm back. Strangely. I guess. For some reason I'm not in that great of a mood. :C Aw well.**

**Reviews, dawgs.**

**anon:** Thank you. I try my best with the blending and stuff.

**Gamerof1458:** King's Game will (hopefully) get here soon, but with the stuff I've got in this chapter there's a whole book shelf of possibilities I can choose from. I don't mind the long reviews - in fact I whole-heartedly encourage them (or if you want to write short and simple ones that's fine too).

**Astrih Konnash:** I don't think it was that long; shorter than chapter 17 I think. I don't care what you write in reviews - do as you please. And yeah, my own iPod's chalked full of game music. That's pretty much where I got the idea. I don't really see many spelling mistakes, and if you're sleepy go back to bed.

**Jharoz:** Glad to see that you didn't expect it. I liked how you used the letter that came after each one in his name, that's pretty cool.

**Jranz:** Why yes it was.

**eggmiester:** Rise-Piece-ay trying to kiss Mandy Andy was made up in, like, two seconds. I thought of how I could expand it all out 'n stuff, and that's what was created. Yes the dude in the hoodie was Adachi. Thanks for the review man.

**anon #2:** I think Rise (in the actual game, where she was a support character) said that she wasn't able to use her powers outside of the other world, when they were trying to find Teddie. I may be just remembering wrong, but that's what I think. And has the anticipation wore you out yet?

**Windmarkd10:** I had planned for Dandy Andy to take a knife to the gut for a little while now; you don't know how happy I was to finally get that out there. I realize a lot of different things can happen in the hospital, but not a lot does in this chapter, sadly. 'Cept one big thing (won't spoil, you must read, mortal).

**Lots of reviews. Me very much likey. I hope you enjoy this chapter~**

**Disclaimer: You should know the drill by now, but in case you don't Andrew is mine, and the idea for the constant nicknames came from Casey. Thanks. Oh, and Atlus owns P4.**

**

* * *

~July 30th~**

**~Saturday~**

**~4:10PM~**

* * *

"Haa... Haa..." It was getting more and more difficult to breath as I sat along the walls of this narrow hallway. Naoto was still with us, but he was leaning on the opposite wall instead of next to me. Rise chose to keep lying down on my lap, but she now decided to take her hands away from her face. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she had a black eye, maybe two, and a nice few bruises. One would think that after being kneed in the face with such ferocity like that that her nose would be broken, but it was strangely fine. I was continuing to stroke her hair to try and keep her from crying anymore, and thankfully it was beginning to work. Inwardly, I was rather happy that we were this close to each other, but given what had _just_ happened I knew that saying it wouldn't be right. "How long... are they gonna... frickin' take... to get here...?" I asked the detective, finding it challenging to breath properly.

"I called them the moment I saw you drop to your knees," Naoto explained. "They hopefully won't take too much longer."

"S-So..." I coughed. "How d-did you... know we were here...?"

"I was walking by the bathrooms when I heard a scream, coming from Rise-san. When I rushed over and looked behind the corner, that man had already stabbed you. I immediately called the hospital in Okina, and when they said they'd be on their way I came out with my gun pointed at him."

"U-Uhh..." I wasn't expecting a full explanation. "R-Right... And thanks ag-again..."

"Don't mention it, but please try not to talk anymore. You'll waste your energy."

"Okay..."

It wasn't long after that that the paramedics finally arrived. They had brought two stretchers with them - one for me and the second for Rise - and after putting us on them they hastily brought us to the two ambulances parked outside of the mall.

"Please take them to the Inaba Municipal Hospital," I heard Naoto tell the driver.

"Inaba...?" the driver asked. "Why all the way there?"

"That's where they're from; their friends and family will want to see them without too much hassle, wouldn't they?"

"O-Oh, right... Of course."

Naoto also insisted that he ride back with us, and chose to ride with me ('cause dudes have to stick together). I was worried that Rise might not want to ride back to Inaba by herself in the other ambulance, but she reassured me and said that she'd be fine. I didn't want to leave her, but I didn't really have much choice since the ambulances were only big enough for a single stretcher.

"I meant to ask this earlier," Naoto said as the ambulance sped down the highway, "but how did both you and Rise-san get wound up in that?"

"She said... she had to go... to the bathroom," I managed to get out. "And then... I heard her scream for help... and I went to help..." Lies, actually.

"I see... What about the attacker? Any identifiable characteristics?"

"Mm... Not really... His hoodie covered his eyes... and he had a... kerchief over his mouth..." I blinked. "Yet for some reason... I could tell when... he was smiling..."

"It was probably the tone of his voice that allowed you to do so."

"Prob-" I coughed violently, and I suddenly saw blood on the wall. "O-Oh God..." The pain also started to increase in my gut, and it soon spread all throughout my body. "G-Gahh!"

"H-Hey! Hold still!" the doctor who was also present in the vehicle shouted. He started applying pressure around the knife, but it started to hurt even more than before.

"O-OW!" My body was twisting and turning, as if doing so would make the pain diminish. It didn't work, and I soon found myself, whether from blood loss or shock, slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

When my eyes opened, I saw fog in front of a pale blue... skyline? I think. Instinctively knowing where I was, I tried to sit myself up without causing any pain. And would you believe I managed to stand right up? "The hell...?" I looked down at my stomach. Sure enough, there was a vertical tear in my shirt, but there wasn't a knife. "What the...?" I carefully placed two fingers on my stomach, right where the gash would be, but there wasn't anything there - no wound, or pain. "So... I thought right then." I examined that same hand, "This is only my consciousness... No wounds would be brought over here..."

My sixth sense activated once again, and I turned around-

"_Andrew-kun!_"

...only to be glomped by my best friend. I could safely assume that it was also a running leap because of the fact that she forced me to the floor. ...Or, whatever it was. "Oof!" I grunted as I landed, despite the fact that there _was_ no pain to feel. I just stopped falling when I reached where a floor should be. _Oh wow her breasts are now pressed against my chest. I don't think I'll be moving from this spot for a little while now._

"Oh my God!" Rise yelled as she squeezed me. "I was so scared! I was never expecting that to happen! Whoever it was caught me by surprise, there was nothing I could do!"

"R-Rise-chan..." I gasped for air.

"Hmm? Oh geez!" She released her tight grip, but she didn't bother to remove her arms from around my neck. "I'm sorry!"

"Naw, it's alright."

"O-Okay... S-So, how're you feeling?" she asked, staring straight down into my eyes.

"I'm fine, but... I'm more concerned for you... He hit you pretty hard..."

"Me?" I nodded, "But... That's nothing compared to what he did to you! Did you realize how terrified I was when he st-... s-stabbed you? I thought for sure I'd lose you..."

"H-Hey, you don't have to worry..." I mustered up every last inch of courage I had and put my arms around her back. "I'm not going anywhere. Promise." She was a tad surprised by my actions, but she just smiled and nestled down into my chest.

"You don't know how happy I am to have my arms around you..."

"Heh, I won't be kicking the bucket that easily."

There was silence before she spoke up again. "So the knife and gash disappeared when you came here?"

"Yeah. And it's a good thing, too, 'cause if it was still there when you tackled me..."

"Uh-! ...Oops. Ehhhh..heheh... I probably should've thought before I leapt at you..."

"It doesn't matter now. You already proved that there's nothing there."

"I did, didn't I?"

I looked at her face and blinked. "H-Hey, wait, I just realized, your face is all better!"

"Mhm, though it's only like that here. Himiko once told me that you can't get hurt here, since this is just basically in our heads. We can't bring over any damaged wounds, either."

"So then these aren't our real bodies?"

"Right."

I blushed at the things that we could do here, but said nothing.

"Did the hoodie that guy wear seem... familiar to you?" Rise asked me out of the blue.

"Uhh... Actually, yeah, it did... You thought so too?"

"Well, uh, I didn't have much time to think about it 'cause... you know."

"O-Oh, right... Sorry. Let me try to think back. Mmm..." Despite not wanting to relive the scene again, I forced myself to play it in my mind. Feeling the migraine, approaching the guy, going for a punch, getting stabbed, watching him... punch Rise... All the while wearing a hoodie. "Uhh... Uh? Oh! I know now! It's like the one that Yosuke-senpai wore. The one that was lost."

"Was it? I can't remember that clearly..."

"I'm pretty sure it waaaaasss... W-Wait, hang on a sec..." I thought really hard, trying to get a clear picture of that guy in my head. "I think there was... a tear in the sleeve? The left arm I think..."

"What does that have anything to do with it?"

"Didn't Yosuke-senpai's hoodie have a tear in the left sleeve?"

"I dunno, ask him later. Though you may just over-thinking this..."

"Y-Yeah, probably..."

Silence, then, "Not to complain or anything, but how long do you think we'll be in here?"

"As long as no one wakes either of us up, then as long as we're sleeping I guess..."

"Good." She snuggled in closer to me, "I'm not in the mood to leave just yet."

I chuckled, "Neither am I."

Even _more_ silence between us until I spoke this time. "That was really dangerous though... I mean, who'd've thought _that_ of all things could happen on our... f-first date?"

"I know! I thought it was going really smoothly too..." She shook her head, which was still against my (very manly) chest. "We'll just have to have the next one end on a better note."

"Yeah..." In all honesty, I actually forgot about the second date that I asked of her. I'm glad she just decided to remind me instead of downright asking me about it. "Where did you wanna go for the next one then?"

"Mmm... _Not_ Okina City, please. Let's just stay in Inaba next time."

"Done and done."

"Hm hm... Thanks." A short moment passed before Rise suddenly raised her head. "Oh, yeah. I have something to give you."

"Hmm? What?"

She then quickly pressed her lips onto mine and, just as quickly, moved away again.

...

...

"...W-Wha-..."

"I promised you a kiss yesterday, didn't I? Well there you go!"

My faced burned and I felt like I would melt at any second. "B- ...Wh-... H..."

"What, you were expecting it to be longer?" Rise smiled playfully.

"Y-... Yeah, kinda..."

"I didn't say how long I would kiss you, just that I would!"

"Th-... B-... Gahh, frickin' loop-holes..." I sighed as I slammed my head onto the 'floor' beneath me. I then glanced back up at her, "I wasn't ready for it, do it again."

"Heheh, nope!"

"Mmmm... W-Wait, that was the one from yesterday, right?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"What about the one that you owe me for rescuing you?"

"Hmm..." She put a finger to her chin, but smiled back at me and said, "Nuh-uh!"

"Whaaaaa."

"Sorry. You'll just have to wait for some other time."

I groaned loudly, but I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "Hey, you said you wanted to see what it was like, right? To kiss a boy away from the cameras?"

"Oh yeah, I did say that, didn't I...?"

"S-So, how was it?"

"Eh. Too short to actually tell."

"Then we should try again."

"Some other time."

"...Mrrrrrrrr."

"Was that supposed to sound threatening?"

"No, just to show my annoyance."

"It sounded like a cow or something."

"Quiet, you." I chuckled as I held her closely to me, and she tightened her grip around my neck. _Maybe I should just tell her... No wait she already knows. But, I guess it needs to actually be said by _me_, huh__...?_ "U-Um... Rise-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"I, uh..." I swallowed. "I realize you know this already, b-but I never got to tell you it myself..."

She didn't reply at first, but after a few seconds she rose her head to look at me. I could tell she knew what I was getting at, yet she allowed me to continue. "Go on..." she said with a small smile.

"I j-just wanted to say..." _Deep breath... deep breath..._ "I... I lov-"

"_ANDY! PLEASE WAKE UP!_"

"Wha-" The whole place started to shake again. "_Goddamn you to Hell, Teddie!_"

Rise then started to giggle. "Tell me next time we're alone."

"Ah, but..." I was about to protest, but she put a finger to my lips to silence me.

"Later," she said, smiling even as she was vanishing from my sight.

* * *

"Ted, don't just shout like that! We're in a hospital, you know!"

"But if I don't, he won't know we're here!"

"He's unconscious! He's not going to know we're here anyways!"

"But-"

"Grrr..." I groaned as I woke up. "Shhhhhaddup, would ya?" And everyone did. For a moment at least. Before I knew it I heard voices coming from all around me, making the ringing in my ears increase tenfold. I moaned again and cracked open an eye to see Teddie, Kanji, Souji and Yosuke all gathered around me. "W-Why're you all here?"

"Why-" Yosuke blinked. "Are you serious! We came to check on you!"

"W-Wait, so, how'd you find out?"

"Naoto, actually," Souji said. "He called me yesterday and told me that you and Rise-chan were hospitalized..."

"He did? How'd he get your phone number?"

"He called from your cell apparently."

"H-He did? Where is it now?"

"Uh, right beside you."

I glanced to my left to see a small, mostly empty table with only my cell phone on it. "Ohhh okay then..." I sighed, but then I actually took in everything he just said. "Wait a sec, _yesterday_? So I've been out for a day?"

"Yep," Teddie nodded. "I was so lonely by myself last night! What happened, anyways?"

"O-Ohh..." _Shit, I don't want to tell it to Ted... He doesn't know that Rise-chan and I went to Okina... Damn..._ "Rise-chan and I... went to Okina City together yesterday and-"

"Okina City!" the bear shouted. "I thought you said you were going to bring _me_ next time! Now I know why you were so persistent on getting me to go to work yesterday!"

"Well I'm sorry but... Rise-chan and I... just wanted to go ourselves..."

"Sooo..." Kanji said, "a date, then?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess..." I turned to the angry bear. "Ted, I promise you, as soon as I get out of here, I'll take you wherever you want to go. I'll make it up to you, I swear..."

"Andy..." Teddie was touched. He grabbed a hold of my hand and put it close to his face. "Th-Thanks! I'll look forward to then!"

"Uhh... Y-You do that." I took my hand back from him and was about to pull myself up to sit instead of lie, but as I did my gut burned with pain. "A-AHH ahh ahh..."

"Wh-Whoa, lie back down!" Souji instructed as Kanji and Yosuke eased me back onto the hospital bed.

"Ugh... O-Okay..."

"So, what happened anyway?" Yosuke asked. "In Okina City, I mean."

"Ah, w-well... Rise-chan and I were... on a date. And just as we were about to leave to go back to Inaba, she said she needed to, ah... use the washroom. And then, when she left... someone, uh..." I glanced out the window with a look of despair; I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Andrew..." Souji pleaded.

I sighed heavily and laid my head on the pillow. "Someone tried... Someone tried to rape her." Their eyes shot opened and they all gasped in horror, even Ted, who apparently knew what that word was. _Thank goodness for that... Means we don't have to tell him..._

"S-Someone..." Kanji trailed off.

"Mhm. I tried to stop him, but when I went to punch him..." I pointed down to my gut, "_that_ happened..." No one spoke a word; they all just looked around and fidgeted. "U-Uhm, where is Rise-chan, anyway?"

"In another room, obviously," Yosuke answered. "The hospital doesn't let men and women share the same room."

"R-Right... Shoulda realized that..." I glanced at all of them, and realized the other girls weren't with them. "And Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai are checking on her?"

"Yeah."

"H-Hey, what time is it?"

"It's... just about nine o'clock now," Souji answered. "At night."

"A-At nnight! I've been unconscious for over twenty-four hours!" _The dream didn't seem __that__ long, though!_

Yosuke was about to respond a positive, but suddenly a nurse came into the room. "Sorry, boys," she said in a... seductive voice? "Visiting hours are up. Time to head home~"

The four moaned, but they agreed anyway, and filed out of the room, each one saying their own form of 'good-bye' to me. Souji stopped suddenly to talk to the nurse, and when she left (though not without a "I hope to see you here again~"), he turned to me.

"Hey, do you want me to contact your parents and tell them?"

"Umm... N-No, that's okay. There's nothing they can do from the other side of the world except worry, and I don't want to cause them to do any more of that."

"Alright. Naoto said the same thing earlier, but I just wanted to make sure with you. I'll see you later then."

"Okay. Bye, senpai."

As he left my room, I closed my eyes to try for another nap. And then I realized that I forgot to ask Yosuke about his hoodie. I groaned to myself, but decided not to do anything about it.

**

* * *

~Date Unknown~**

**~Time Unknown~**

* * *

I soon fell back to sleep after the four guys left the room, and when I woke up again the sun was already pouring into my eyes. "Nng... It's bright..."

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd wake."

"Hm?" To my left, sitting with a magazine in his hands was Naoto, once again. "Oh... Hey, Naoto-san."

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked me while placing his book down.

"Just a bit..." I attempted to sit up again and, even though it should've hurt, I was still able to sit up, though not without a little difficulty.

"You..." Naoto seemed a little surprised, "...seem to be recovering at an alarming rate. The wound the knife left was rather deep, and I was told it needed at least two weeks to heal. Yet, it's only been two _days _since then, and you're sitting up as if a week has already gone by..."

"So, it's like Monday now?" I asked, and sighed at his nod. "I'm already wasting away my summer vacation... Hopefully I can get out of here soon..."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few things."

"Hmm? Like what? I already told you what he was wearing and what happened."

"But you also abruptly became unconscious, and our talk had to be cut off."

"A-Ah, true..."

"Were there any other traits that the hooded man had? Such as a way he moved or talked?"

"Umm..." I thought back to two days ago. "He... liked to throw the F-bomb around, I know that... And now that I think about it his voice seemed vaguely familiar..."

"Anyone you know?"

"M-Mmm..." I shook my head. "Not that I can remember... Which is strange, considering I have good memory..."

"I see... Anything else then?"

"Uhm... He had gloves... And that's really it..." I thought for a moment and asked, "Hey, what happened to those knives? Are the police searching for prints or something?"

"They're trying, yes, but like you said, the man was wearing gloves at the time. If he was smart enough to not touch them with his bare hands, then they won't be able to find anything."

"Ah..."

"Alright, then. I'll leave you alone for more rest now." Naoto stood from his chair and made his way to the door. "Ah, that reminds me." He took a slip of paper from his pocket, jotted something down and placed it on the table next to my bed, all the while walking over to it. "If you happen to remember anything at all, call me, day or night. I'll be available."

"Oh, uh, sure thing." Naoto nodded to me and, just before he left, I said, "Thank you, detective," with a _hint_ of amusement.

Naoto glanced back and chuckled himself, but said nothing and left the room. Not knowing what to do now, since the nurses would most likely send me back here if I were to leave and go search for Rise, I slipped back underneath the covers and tried to sleep again.

**

* * *

~Unknown Time~**

The _next_ time I woke up, the room was completely dark, and there was a soft voice singing a song to my left. I could easily tell it was Rise who was there (I mean, c'mon, who else do I know that can sing as good as she can?), and before I attempted to sit up, I just laid down and listened to her song.

"_Wasurenai yo daiichi na_

_Minna to sugoshita mainichi_

_Never more, kurai yami mo_

_Hitori ja nai sa_

_Mitsukedasu yo daiichi na_

_Nakushita mono wo_

_Never more, kimi no koe ga_

_kiku sou, boku wo michibiku yo_"

"W-Wow, that was amazing..."

"Huh!" Before she could continue her song, I accidentally spoke. I didn't mean to, but it just sorta came out. "You're awake?"

"Yeah. You were let out of your room?"

"The doctor said that I just need to let my face heal... Other than that, there wasn't any need for me to even have a room."

"Really?" I sighed in relief, "That's good. I'm glad of that."

"Me too... So how're _you _feeling?"

"Alright, actually. I can hardly feel where the knife was."

"Already? Naoto-san said that it was at least a few inches in, and that it'd take a while to heal..."

"He told that to me, too. But it hardly hurts to sit up, now." To demonstrate, I did so with little difficulty. It hurt a _tiny_ bit, but I couldn't tell her that. "S-See? Easy-peasy."

"Well that's good! I'm still wondering how you can recover so quickly, but it doesn't really matter right now."

"Hey, can't you recover quickly too? Our senpai told me Kanji and Yukiko-senpai had to take at least two or three weeks off to completely recover from their first trip to the TV world, but for us it was only, like, a week..."

"Oh, yeah... I never thought of that..." She then seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, right! I got you a glass of water." She reached over to the bedside table and picked up a small cup filled with liquid. "The nurses said that you've been asleep for a long time and hadn't had anything to eat or drink since we got here..."

"Ah yeah, that's right..." My stomach suddenly growled. "Damn, now I'm hungry..."

"Drink this." She extended the glass to me and I happily took it and swigged it down. "...Wow, you must really be parched..."

"I am. Going without drinking anything for a few days can really do that..."

"Did you want me to get you something to eat?"

"No, no, that's alright. I... don't really want you to leave."

"Alright, then. I'll let you go hungry if you want to."

"Ahaha, thanks a lot." Changing the topic, I quickly asked, "What was that song you were singing?"

"Oh, it's called Never More. It was one of the songs on that CD you bought."

"It was? I... don't think I've heard it..."

"Oh, really? Mm, too bad then."

"And I thought you didn't know any English?"

"Someone else wrote the lyrics; I just sang the song."

"Ohhh I see."

"Mhm..."

"So, uh... Were you waiting for me to wake up for a long time?"

"A bit, about an hour."

"You didn't have to wait all that time, you know."

"I didn't want to leave without seeing you first."

"O-Oh... Really? Thanks..."

"Hey, you mind if I get the lights? I can hardly see anything..."

"Uh?" I blinked and looked around. I actually had forgotten that it was practically pitch black here. "Oh, by all means, go right ahead."

"Thanks." I heard her stand from the chair and walk over to the door. When she switched on the lights and turned around, I gasped slightly. The right side of her head was almost completely covered in bandages. Her right eye was entirely veiled with them, and there were a few patches covering her cheeks. Her left eye was alright, though, and had no such bandages. _W-Waitaminute. I am turned on by this. Why?_

"R-Rise-chan..." Ignoring those thoughts, I reached out a hand to her, though that was pretty pointless.

"What, this?" She placed a tender hand over her covered-up eye. "Y-Yeah... The doctor said my eye's swollen and it needs to heal on its own without any irritation, so he had to make me wear this at all times..." She sat back down next to me and said, "It's... a little embarrassing, though... Makes me feel like I need to be protected or something..."

_Protected...?_ "Hey... Y-You remember what I said a month ago?" She blinked at me, thought for a moment and shook her head. "I know I... haven't actually done a very good job at it so far, but I promised you that... I'll protect you. Even if I have to put my life on the line... I'll keep you safe."

She just stared at me, her one visible eye blinking all the while, but a smile gradually formed. She reached out a hand and grasped mine in it. "Thanks. I'll... always be counting on you." I smiled back at her and squeezed her hand, but it was then that I realized her smile had become a little wider. "Wasn't there something you wanted to tell me...? When it was just the two of us alone?"

"Hu- Oh right..." I glanced around, just wanting to make sure we actually _were_ alone. "U-Um... I know you already know this, but... I felt like it'd be better if I told you anyways."

"I'm listening," she said with a grin.

_Okay... Here it goes..._ "Rise-chan... I... I lo-"

Before I could finish my sentence (yet again), the door to the room flew open and a different nurse from yesterday walked in. "Excuse me," she said sternly, specifically to Rise, "but visiting hours are over. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

"W-" _DAMMIT NOT AGAIN!_

"O-Oh... Alright," Rise answered the nurse. She turned back to me and squeezed my hand back. "I'll come back first thing tomorrow and... you can tell me then."

"Wha-! B-But..."

Rise turned to the nurse without letting me finish and said, "When are visiting hours again? I, ehh... kinda forgot..."

"Between nine AM and nine PM," the woman said, quickly getting impatient, "and it's now getting close to eleven. I'm sorry, but you must leave _now_."

"R-Right." Rise let go of my hand and stood up from the chair. When she got to the door she turned around and smiled to be. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"A-Ah..." _I don't want her to leave yet!_ "D-Do you have to leave?"

"She has to," the nurse answered. "Like I said, visiting hours are over." She was getting _really_ pissed. "Now, if you'd please leave..."

"Right, right, I'm going." She waved one last time to me and left the room. The nurse also left and closed the door before I could say anything.

"Wha... Dammit..." I fell back down onto my pillow and sighed. "Goddamn you to Hell, nurse." I knew that trying to fall asleep now would be pointless because of how much I've been sleeping for past few days, so I just chose to lay there for the next ten hours.

I then realized that I was still hungry. _And_ I needed to take a piss. "Shit..."

**

* * *

~August 2nd~**

**~Tuesday~**

**~8:59AM~**

* * *

After getting that nurse from before to get me some food and help me to the bathroom, I actually managed to fall asleep. I was secretly hoping that Rise and I would get transported to one of our dream realms, but sadly, we weren't. Hell, I didn't even have a dream, which made me rather sad.

I yawned, stretched (while still lying down) and turned my gaze to the window to see the light pouring in, which forced me to shield my eyes from the brightness. "Geez, I forgot to close the blinds last night..." I realized that, unlike the last three times I woke up, there was no one there to greet me. "Hmm? No one here..." I glanced to the clock on the wall, and when I saw that there was only a few seconds left from nine, I glanced to the door.

_*Knock knock*_

_**'Just as you thought.'**_

_Yeah, strangely._

"Hellooooo~" Rise's still-bandaged head suddenly appeared through the slightly opened door. "You up yet?"

"Nope," I lied. "I'm still fast asleep."

"Oh, okay then." She waltzed right in and closed the door behind her. "I'll just have to get in with you and wake you up myself."

"H... Huh-! Wh-Wha-"

Aaaaaand she was laughing. "Geez, did anyone ever tell you it's too easy to make you embarrassed?"

"Yes... you did, actually," I replied with a sigh. She giggled a bit more and made her way towards me. In her hands was a rather large plastic bag, and just by looking at it I could tell that she had brought some food. "You made breakfast?"

"Yep!" Rise laid the bag on the table beside me. "I figured I should do something since you did save me, after all... Ah, well, it was Naoto-san, but still..."

"I managed to stop him from doing anything... s-serious, to you. And Naoto-san made him run away." I quickly considered this and said, "We make a good team, actually. Took down two punks and scared a man away. That's what I call teamwork, there!"

"That man was also the one who stabbed you."

"Y-Yeah, I know..."

I then suddenly extended an arm up to her, but she just blinked. "What?"

"Help me up, please?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Getting a firm grip on my hand she carefully pulled me up to a sitting position. It hurt just a teensy bit, but I did my best not to make a sound.

"Thanks!"

"No problem," she said. Her smile then widened and she raised an eyebrow. "Are you, uh, gonna let go of my hand?"

"I wasn't planning to. Why?"

"'Cause I'm going to need it to get your food."

"Uhhh... I'm not really hun-"

_*Grrrrr*_

"...Frickin' stomach."

Rise giggled another bit and pulled her hand away from mine. She looked back to the table, but her eyes landed on something other than her bag. "Hmm? What's this?" She picked up a piece of paper. "Naoto's cell number?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right... He gave it to me in case I remembered anything."

"Really?" She turned to me and raised her only visible eyebrow. "He never gave _me _his number..."

"He didn't? Well I guess that just mean's I'm more special then."

"Ha! You wish." She opened the bag and took out a bento box. "Here ya go, one healthy breakfast made by yours truly."

"Thank you!" I took the box and opened it to see a pile of rice - _I find it strange that rice is considered breakfast material here -_ some fruits and veggies and (unexpectedly... _not_) some tofu. "H-Hey, you didn't have to go and make this much, y'know...? I'm not starving here."

"But you need to get your energy up if you want to recover as quick as you can. Summer vacation's only a month long, and we still haven't gone swimming yet!"

"It's only the second of August - I, uh, I think. We'll have plenty of time before it ends."

"But will you be better by then? In case you haven't realized, you're still in the hospital."

"Y-Yeah, I know that, but it hardly hurts now anymore." I poked the part of my gut where I had been shanked, and winced at the slight pain. "A-Ah, well, I... I can move. Shouldn't poke it, though."

"Yeeeeah, that'd be wise." Rise bent over the bed and picked up the pair of chopsticks from inside the box. Taking a piece of fruit - I think it was a piece of apple - she held it up to my mouth. "Okay, say 'Aaaah'!"

"...Huh?" I deadpanned. "I'm not a kid anymore..." And then I laughed a bit, "But, whatever. Ahhhhhh~" She put the chopsticks in my mouth, let go of the piece of apple and pulled them back out. "Hey this is pretty good."

She smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it."

For the next few minutes, she wound up actually feeding me the whole box. I didn't really mind, but I was also glad that no one came in at that time to see it. I would've been rather embarrassed.

Once the whole box was empty, I burped, excused myself, and look at Rise. "O-Okay. I'm just going to say it right out."

"Hmm?" She blinked, but quickly knew what I was talking about.

"Rise-chan... I l-"

_*SLAM*_

"Heeeeeey Andy!"

"..." My eye twitched at seeing the bear barged into the room. I turned to Rise, who, too, was shocked. "Please excuse me for a moment." I reached behind me and took my pillow out from underneath me. I laid down again, pressed the pillow right into my face and-

"_**ARRRRRGHHH**__**!**_"

No reaction came from either of the them. Sitting up, I put the pillow back on the bed and turned to Ted. "What?"

"Uhh... I was just... coming to see how you were doing?"

I sighed. "Right, of course you were..."

**

* * *

~10:05PM~**

Teddie left at around ten o'clock when he got a call from Yosuke to get to Junes. He left with a tear in his eye since he wanted to stay, but he had to go either way. Rise said that she was off the whole day, and that she was allowed to stay in the hospital room as long as she wanted.

"Okay, then. We're alone again so I'll just get straight to it. Rise-chan-"

The door, _again_, slid open. "Oh, you're up. Good."

_...What the __**frell**__, doc?_

_**'I... don't believe 'frell' is a word.'**_

_It is. It's a substitute for the F word._

_**'Why would you substitute it now if you used it not three days ago?'**_

_I was pissed, remember?_

_**'Oh yes. True.'**_

The doctor came into the room and lifted the dress-like thing that all hospital occupants are forced to wear (yes we kept our undergarments on, and when he raised it Rise didn't bother to turn around). He said that the wound was pretty much healed, and said that was very weird considering the size of it. I also did _not_ know that it had to be stitched together, nor did I know that it already was.

"I'm surprised, though," the doctor mused. "The knife that was in you made a rather big gash. It should've taken at the very least a _week_ for you to recover..." He looked at me, "You weren't taking anything in order to speed up the healing process, were you?"

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. "The first time I ate since I got here was last night, and that was hospital food. The only other time was about an hour ago, and I doubt that it could heal that quickly..."

"Mm, right... Well, you should be fine. It doesn't look like it'll cause any more harm to you, so you're free to go."

"Ah-" Rise and I looked at each other, then we both grinned widely. "S-Seriously?"

"Yep. There's just a few things I've got to clear up, so if you can just wait for a few seconds..."

"S-Sure thing!" The doctor nodded to us and left the room swiftly.

Rise turned to me, "I didn't think you'd be let out this early."

"Neither did I, actually..." I grinned. "I'm really happy now. Hey, what should we do when we get out?"

"Mmm... Not sure, really. Maybe go for something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm still a little hungry..."

She was silent for a moment before she raised an eyebrow. "Sooo... Are you gonna say it?"

"Say wha-? Oh! Nope, not now. By the time I get around to it someone will just interrupt us, like the last four times."

"You never know. No one may-"

"I'm back," the doctor said as he closed the door.

She blinked in surprise. "...Huh."

**

* * *

~10:30AM~**

It took a little longer than I originally thought, but soon enough Rise and I were on our way back to the shopping district. The hospital had my clothes cleaned of any traces of blood that was on it, as well as mending the hole in it, making it look as good as new (they also did that with Rise's, 'cept hers didn't have a tear in it). To celebrate our getting out of the hospital, we decided to buy some Topsicles at Shiroku. I was about to call the others to celebrate with us, but Rise insisted that she wanted us to be alone. I knew why, too.

"So when did the nurse say you can take the bandages off?" I asked her as we walked by Kanji's house.

"I don't know yet. At the end of the week I'm going back to the hospital to get it checked again, and if my eye's alright I can leave it off."

"Who knows, it may even be better now. It was only swollen, so it shouldn't take too long to heal, right? I mean, I got stabbed on Saturday and now I'm already a free man."

"Haha, you make it sound like you were in prison."

"Ehhh, you're right. It wasn't bad, though. I had lots of company."

"Like Ted."

"Gah, don't remind me."

"So. When're you gonna tell me what needs to be told?"

"Mind if we get those Topsicles first? I'm still kinda hungry."

She sighed. "If you insist."

We bought two ice creams, one for each of us (orange for me and strawberry for her), and were about to walk to the Samegawa Flood Plain when Rise stopped dead in her tracks.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked her, also stopping.

"Uh- Umm..." She nodded her head towards her house, and when I glanced back I saw this suspicious looking man in a business suit standing in front of it. He seemed a little depressed and was looking down at the ground.

"A... reporter?" I blinked, and turned to her. Rise looked a bit worried, so I said, "Hey, you uh, wanna go the long way around?"

"Uh, th-that's alright. We don't know if he's really dangerous or not." She seemed to calm down a bit before saying, "But... thanks for that."

"S-Sure thing."

Rise squinted her eyes at the man, as if sizing him up. "Hmm, but still... that guy... Where have I...?" Regardless of whether he was dangerous or not, Rise walked up to him with me in tow. When we got closer, she suddenly gasped. "Inoue-san, is that you?"

The man's head shot up and he rushed over to us. "Rise-chan!" He, too, quickly gasped, "Wh-What happened to you!"

Rise silently looked away. "T-That doesn't matter right now."

"Huh? B-But-"

"Why are you here...?" She interrupted. "I already settled everything with the agency...!"

_Huh? Agency?_

Doing his best to ignore Rise's bandages, Inoue said, "I'm here because... personally, I can't accept that. I've watched over you this entire time as your manager..." _Ohhh okay, so he's her old manager..._

Rise quickly shot daggers at him. "I'm no longer a 'personality'! My private time doesn't belong to a manger anymore!" She calmed down a tad, but still glared at him. "Go home. I'll call the police if you don't."

"N-No, wait!" Inoue yelled. "Could you just think it over? I strongly believe that no other actress can play that role better than Rise Kujikawa. Your fans were looking forward to the movie, too..."

My friend snarled. "You... You still want me to act!"

Her old manager was taken back by this, "Huh...?"

Rise clenched her fists and waved them in the air. "Anyway, I'm through with it! I have nothing to do with showbiz and all that stuff now! I..." She quickly looked over to me, thought of something, gulped, and turned back to Inoue. "I've decided to marry this man once we graduate high school!"

_H... HUH!_

Rise quickly sidestepped right by me and took my hand in hers. "I said before it was only a hiatus, but I've changed my mind! There's no way I'm coming back!" She glanced at me. "Andrew-kun sees the real me... He's so gentle!"

_G-Gental? How, exactly? W-Wait, that doesn't matter now!_

"Th-That's right!" I declared, and squeezed her hand. "I... I love Rise-chan." Both of our faces flared at that, but I continued. "If she says that she's not going back into showbiz, then she's not." My own eyes narrowed at him. "No questions asked."

Rise herself seemed a bit surprised, but she quickly turned back to her manager. "S-See? I told you!"

Inoue didn't say anything, but he just lowered his head. "I... I understand. I'll go home... for today." He glanced back up at us, "B-But I-"

Rise would have none of it. She pointed past him down the street and screamed, "Go away! NOW!" The man quickly ran off in the direction she was pointing in without a word, and when he was gone, she turned to me. "Uhh... That was Inoue-san. He was... my manager."

"I... kinda picked that up along the way," I replied.

"Oh, r-right. I'm his daughter's age, so he treated me like one of his family..." She turned her head away with sadness written all over it. "But... he's a stranger now."

"Are you... okay with that?" I asked concernedly.

She nodded her head, "Y-Yeah... I am..." She then shook her head instead and looked back up to me. "S-So anyways, you..." She smiled a bit, "You said it."

"I said-" Realization hit me square in the gut with a knife. "I..." I blushed immensely, but a smile formed. "I did... didn't I?" I looked down at her. "R-Rise-chan, I-" I quickly looked around for anymore people who could potentially interrupt me, but seeing none I looked back at the girl. "...I... I love you."

Her small smile turned into a very large grin, and she lifted her arms up around my neck. "I love you, too." My own arms went around her waist, and before I could do anything else she stepped on her toes and planted another kiss on my lips, this time for more than 0.5 seconds. I was actually not expecting this, but I pressed my lips onto hers as well. We just stood there, embraced in each others company for, maybe, ten seconds before I had to pull away.

"H-Huh? Wh-What's wrong?" Rise asked me, nervousness showing on her face.

"N-Nothing at all! It's just... y-your bandages were making my eye water..." I told her as I rubbed the tears out of my eye.

"They were...?" She walked around me to get a good look at my face. She blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Um... If they really were making your eye water... wouldn't it have been the other one?"

"Huh!" I quickly did the calculations. Rise's bandages were on her right eye, which should've made my left eye start to water. But the tears were coming out of my right eye. "O-Oh."

Rise quickly figured it out. "You... You're actually crying, aren't you...? What's wrong?"

I shook my head violently. "Nothing's wrong! It's just..." I glanced at her and smiled softly. "I'm just... really happy..."

She stared at me, but then a big smile grew on her face. "I am, too." I think she was about to lean in for another kiss, but she quickly looked down at her hand. "L-Let's sit down," she said hastily. "Our Topsicles are almost melted."

"Oh shit, right! I forgot all about them!"

* * *

Don't ask how we held each other without getting sticky ice cream over our clothes. It didn't happen, and quite frankly I don't really care.

Rise and I were sitting on the steps leading up to her home, eating our almost melted ice creams. We were sitting _right_ next to each other; our arms were touching, but neither of us minded in the least.

"When should we go swimming then?" I asked her. We were talking about things that we would do over the summer, things that the two of us would do together. That, and other things with the rest of the team.

"Soon, I hope," Rise answered. "We can go to the flood plain if you don't mind the fish there."

"Never bothered me before, won't bother me now."

"How good of a swimmer are you, anyways? You said before that you used to swim, but not much."

"Ah, I'm alright I guess. I may need a professional, such as yourself, to judge me."

She chuckled. "Of course. I'd be happy to. Oh, and everyone will go to the festival here when it comes around, right?"

"Oh yeah, that's true. You and the other girls'll be wearing yukata, right?"

"That's right! I can't wait!"

"What's so special about yukata, anyway? Not to be ignorant or anything, but I just don't see what's so special about it..."

"It's just traditional Japanese clothing that we wear at festivals and stuff. There's no 'deep meaning' to them, they're just there."

"Huh. Teddie was overjoyed at the thought of you all wearing them."

"Ah that's just Ted. He'd freak out at anything we wear."

"Ahaha, that's true." I looked up to the sky, and suddenly had a flashback to our second meeting here. _We were in these exact same spots, weren't we? And that was only about a month ago..._ "So many things can happen in such a short amount of time, can't they?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, just think about it. We've only known each other for a little over a month. And here we are, already confessing to one another..."

"Well you didn't need to actually confess anything. But yeah, you're right." She chuckled again, "...I guess all it took was for us to get hospitalized."

"Yeah..." Suddenly, I got a chill down my spine. "Hey... Do you feel like we're being watched?"

"Being watched...?" She quickly looked around the district, but saw no one. "Ugh, if Inoue-san's still here I'm gonna be forced to kick him!"

"Chie-senpai's the one who dishes out kicks," I said with a smirk. "You could... I dunno, slice him open with your scythe?"

"Ah, that's not here right now..." Her head suddenly shot up. "Hey, maybe we should call our senpai and tell them that we're okay now?"

"Yeah, that's an idea, since we didn't do that earlier." She just grinned at that. "Oh, um... should we tell them about... y-you know, 'us'?"

"Mmm..." Rise thought for a second, then smiled greatly. "I think we should. If we told them, and they told other people, everyone would know about 'us', and then no one will try to approach me."

"Like stalkers or something?"

"Yeah."

"But then again, if everyone _did_ know, I'd get the beating of a lifetime from a _lot_ of upset fanboys..."

"Aw there's no need to worry. If you can take a knife to the gut you can handle twenty or thirty or more of 'em."

I chuckled sarcastically, "Thanks for the support. If I wind up getting beaten up by all of them you'll be feeling it too."

"Oh yeah, right."

After finishing off her Topsicle, Rise placed the stick by her side. When I finished mine, I did the same, and when I looked back at her she put her arms around my neck again. "Hmm?"

She smiled playfully - _I always love that smile_ - "I never got around to actually finding out what it's like to kiss a boy away from the cameras."

"But didn't you just-"

"I forgot."

"...Oh really? Well I'm glad that you did."

"Aha, I figured you would be." She leaned in closer to me and our lips met for the second time that day. I once again put my arms around her waist and- _HOLY FRANCE SHE'S USING HER TONGUE._

"NOOOOO! It's! NOT! _POSSIBLE_!"

We broke apart from each other and looked around the street, but there was absolutely no one around. Not a soul to be seen that could be matched to the cry we just heard.

"Did you, uh, hear someone just then?" Rise asked me.

"Yeah, I did... Strange. Oh, um, I wanted to ask something."

"Hmm?"

"What you said to Inoue-san, that you were going to... ah, marry me... Was... that true?"

"Mmm..." She casually put a hand to her chin, then smiled back at me. "Actually..."

"Y-Yeah?"

"No."

"Wha-"

**

* * *

Hmmm... Quick to update chapter has been quick.**

**Lemme tell you something: if you think them getting together happened too quickly, then consider this: Rise already knew Andy liked her, and she was developing feelings for him on her own. So yeah.**

**Anything not seem right about this? Give me a holler 'n stuff. That button down there will do the trick.**

**I out.**


	20. Making Up and Out

**~August 2nd~**

**~Tuesday~**

**~10:40AM~**

* * *

"A-Andrew...? Rise-chan?"

The two of us gasped and let go of each other the moment we heard Souji's voice from behind us. The second-year was wide-eyed, but not for the reason I thought.

"Uh, h-hi, senpai..." I said hesitantly.

"W-When did you two get out of the hospital?"

I blinked and struggled to find words. I honestly thought that he saw Rise and I kissing just then, but it seemed he didn't. _Thank God..._ "A-Ah, about forty minutes ago," I answered, checking my cell.

"Y-Yeah," Rise nodded, deciding not to tell Souji about 'us.' "The doctor said Andrew-kun was all better and that he was allowed to leave."

"Already?" Souji raised an eyebrow and walked over to us. He looked towards me, "Didn't the doctors say your wound wasn't supposed to heal for another two weeks?"

"U-Uh, yeah. I'm not sure why it's already better, though..."

Souji put a hand to his chin and glanced away, as if trying to think of a reason. "Does Wyvern have an ability called 'Regeneration'?"

"Why?"

"Because Regeneration slowly but surely heals your wounds and energy. It could also mean why you were able to recover within a week of us rescuing you from the other world..."

"Ohh.. Hang on, lemme check." I closed my eyes. _Wyvern?_

_**'I apologise, but no, I don't have that skill. And it would be useless here anyway: Persona abilities cannot be used outside of the other world, not even passive ones such as that one.'**_

_Why's that?_

**_'I... am not sure.'_**

_...Huuh... Alright, thanks._ "He... says he doesn't. And he wouldn't be able to use it on this side either."

"Really?" Souji raised his eyebrow again. "Then how can that be...?" He turned towards Rise, "You recovered from your kidnapping awfully quickly, too, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah," Rise replied. "That's right, the same happened to me..."

I glanced at her, but instead of my eyes falling on her whole face in general, they made their way to her bandages. "Hey, maybe your eye's better, too..."

"Hm?" Rise blinked at me. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, think about it. The both of us were able to recover from the TV world quickly, and I was able to get better from a stab wound in less than three days. I'm willing to bet that a swollen eye would heal just as quickly."

"But the doctors said I'm not allowed to take it off. I don't want to remove it and find out that it's still there..."

"Then just press on it, to see if it hurts," Souji suggested. "If it does, then don't take it off. If it doesn't..."

Rise frowned. "But..." She shook her head violently, "Oh, fine, I will!" She put a hand over her bandaged eye and gently touched it. It then instantly shot away from her face as she gasped.

"What?" I asked. "Did it hurt?"

"N... No!" She turned to me and said, "I-It didn't hurt at all!"

It was Souji's and my turn to gasp. "S-Seriously?" Souji asked.

"Yeah!" She quickly pressed her fingers onto the several patches on her cheeks. "T-The bruises don't hurt either!"

"W-Whoa..." I was stunned. "T-Take them off, let me see."

"Ah- Okay!" She reached around her head and began to undo the cloth around her head. When it was all off, she laid it by her side and turned to look at me. "H-How does it look...?"

"It's..." I didn't mean to stare, but I wound up doing so. "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"There isn't?" Rise asked, both of her eyes widening.

"Here, look at me," Souji instructed. Rise turned her head to him and when he did, his eyes, too, shot open. "W-Wow... That was... _fast_..."

"How did that happen...?" _Wyvern, you're _sure_ you don't know Regeneration?_

_**'I am positive.'**_

_...Mm... Alright then, thanks again._ "Rise-chan, does Himiko know Regeneration?"

"Um..." She closed her fully healed eyes and paused for a few seconds so she could speak with her Persona, but when she opened them and turned to me, "No, she doesn't..."

"So..." Souji was just as confused as us. "If neither of you have Regeneration... then how'd you heal so quickly?"

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. I also don't know how we'll figure this out..."

"Well, now that the actual murder case is over..." Rise mused. "Maybe we can look into this one."

"It may not be anything important, though," Souji replied. "You two may just be able to recover from things quicker than others."

"But you're forgetting, senpai," Rise continued, "Andrew-kun and I can tell where each other are. I don't know _how_ or _why_, but... we just can..."

"Oh... right..." Souji looked down in thought, but lifted his head back up to us. "How does that work, exactly?"

"I just said, I don't know."

"That's not what I mean. Like, how far of a distance does there have to be for it to not work?"

Rise and I blinked, "We... never actually tried it out before," then looked at each other.

"Should we?" I asked her.

The girl nodded and said, "I think we should. It'd save me time trying to find you if I ever need to. And there's still that whole 'shared-pain' thing we need to figure out, too..."

"Oh yeah, that's right..."

"Hmm? What's that?" Souji asked us, tilting his head slightly.

"O-Oh, did we not tell you?" I asked him, to which he shook his head. "Oh, well, basically, if either one of us get's hurt in some way, or is panicking, then the other one will get this _reeeeally_ bad migraine."

"Migraine...?" Souji seemed to be remembering something. "Like back in June, when Rise-chan was kidnapped? Your head started hurting all of a sudden, right? You were forced to the ground..."

"Yeah, exactly like that," I nodded. "And there were other times, too, like when we fought Teddie's Shadow. According to her, whenever I got hit by it, she'd feel the pain, too."

Souji looked at her, and she nodded. "He's right, although I was able to handle myself." She quickly turned her gaze towards me and, with a sudden cheerful smile, said, "Alright, Andrew-kun, you walk back towards the inn. I'll stay here and wait for your presence to vanish."

"Wait, why do _I_ have to do the walking?" I asked her, half jokingly.

"You dare question me?" she asked in a fake intimidating voice.

I chuckled at her as I stood up from the steps. "Your voice sounds weird when it's deep."

"Ahaha. Shut up."

* * *

Souji was already on his way to Kanji's house when he stopped to talk with us, so he continued on his way as I began my walk to the inn. The moment I left the district, my phone rang: Rise was calling.

"Hi there," I said when I answered.

_/Hey!/_

"Any specific reason why you're calling?"

_/Do I need one?/_

"No, you don't. My mistake."

_/Yes it is. So where're you now?/_

"Uhh, I just left? I'm passing by, uhhh... a tree."

_/Heheh, I see. Actually, I needed to ask you something./_

"What's up?"

_/You think we really should tell senpai and the others about 'us'?/_

"I... I don't really care, I guess. If we tell 'em, that's okay. And if we don't, I don't mind."

_/Hm. Well then. You're easy to agree with./_

"Heh, I am, aren't I?"

_/Maybe we should... Or- Agh, I don't know. Hang on, I'll flip a coin./_

"Wait, you're leaving it to a coin?"

_/You did the same once before, so now I will!/_

"But that was completely different... Aw fine."

_/... ...And it's heads. We'll ...Oh, shoot, I forgot to call them!/_

"Hahaha! Seriously?"

_/Quiet, you. Okay, heads is for 'we tell them' and tails is for 'we don't'. Got that?/_

"Shouldn't we both be there so I can make sure you're actually leaving it to luck?"

_/What, you don't trust me?/_

"I-I didn't say _that_..."

_/I'm only kidding! Geez, it's way too easy to fool you! We're gonna hafta work on that./_

"Uhh, if you say so..."

_/Alright, then... And it is... tails this time. We keep 'us' to ourselves./_

"Sure thing. Not a problem with me."

_/Good, 'cause- ...Oh, hang on. There's some customers here. I'll call you back!/_

"O-Oh, okay."

_/Love you!/_

"Ah- L-Love you, too!" The dial tone was suddenly ringing in my ears, and I hesitantly closed the phone with a big smile. I looked at my surroundings and realized that I was about a third of the way from the district to the inn. "Should I keep going or what...?" I sighed, shrugged my shoulders and kept on my way. I was still feeling Rise's presence a bit behind me, but once I reached the familiar spot of the halfway point, her exact location vanished. "Hmm?" I glanced behind me (though there was no point in doing so) and looked farther back. I could still feel her in the area, but there wasn't a specific spot where the feeling was gathering. "...Weird."

Looking around to see if anyone was watching, I went forward a few steps, back in the direction of the shopping district. Suddenly the strong feeling reappeared, and I stopped in my tracks. I walked back a bit, and it was gone. Forward, there again. I carefully inched backwards and stopped just as I could tell the feeling was disappearing. "So... Right here then. Damn, I wish I had something to write with."

My cell phone rang yet again. "Hello?"

_/Uh, what're you doing?/_

"Huh?"

_/I mean, I can... feel you just disappearing and reappearing, over and over again./_

"I'm just testing something out. I found the halfway point."

_/Oh, really? Where to?/_

"Coincidentally, halfway from the inn to the tofu shop."

_/Seriously? Wow, that's weird. It must be fate or something./_

"Haha, probably. ...Man, I wish I had something to write with so I can mark this down..."

_/Just remember the spot if you don't have anything. You said it was the halfway point, right? It should be easy to remember that./_

"Yeah, that's true..."

_/Okay, now that we're done that, come back to the shop./_

"Why?"

_/'Cause I want to spend some time with you, dummy! Why else would I ask?/_

"Ahh, you're right. Okay then, I'm on my way back."

_/Hurry up! You're too slow!/_

"I just started walking, though...!"

* * *

"Hello, I'm here!"

"Ah, hey!" Rise bobbed over to me and gave me a big hug. "Come with me, there's someone I need you to meet."

"There is? Who?" I asked her, though the answer was pretty obvious. She took a hold of my hand and led me to her kitchen. Sitting in one of the chairs, sipping a cup of tea - _Why is it so traditional to have tea here? I hardly had any back home..._ - was Rise's grandmother.

"Grandma," Rise said to her, "this is him!"

Her grandmother slowly lifted her head up to look at me. "My, my, so you are Andrew-kun... You are more handsome than I had expected."

"Ah-? Uh, t-thank you very much," I replied with a small bow.

"I'm glad that my Rise-chan has finally found herself a man..." She put her hands to her cheeks and chuckled to herself. "Oh-ho, my, I feel so old! My little girl is finally growing up!"

"Grandma, I've always been growing up!" Rise giggled.

"Yes, yes, that's true. How forgetful of me. Your dear grandma can be like that nowadays..."

"Anyways, now that you met him, you can go to the store like you wanted."

"Oh, yes, that's right." Her grandma quickly downed the rest of the tea and stood up. "I'll leave the shop in your hands, dear. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright! Be careful!" Rise grabbed a small purse off of the counter and handed it to the little old lady, who slowly walked out of the shop. When she was down the stairs and out of view, Rise turned to me, "I wanted her to get a chance to meet you before she went out. She can be a little... 'out there', but you'll get used to it in no time."

"I'm sure I will. She was one of the first people here to call me handsome!"

"And she always will be."

"H-Hey!"

Rise grinned, but said nothing and turned on her heel. "Follow me!" I nodded, and she led me to her living room, which was in a doorway at the other end of the kitchen. It wasn't exactly large (considering it was just her grandma living there before she came to Inaba, I'm not surprised), and it only had a single chair, a small table (with two floor pillows on either side of it), a couple of lamps on some end-tables, and a TV. There were also windows in the room, except they were facing her back yard and the side of Shiroku, as well as a sliding door for access to said back yard. "Welcome to the Kujikawa family's humble abode!" Rise announced as we made our way in. "It's not as fancy as I'd like, but it's home!"

"Yeah, I'd expect you'd rather live in a giant mansion or something," I replied, looking around the small room.

"Ehh, not really. I mean, I wouldn't mind a _bit_ more space, but the cosiness of this little house is nice."

"I'd have to agree with you on that. My old house wasn't that big, anyways, and most of the time I'd be stuck in my room."

"You never went out much?"

"Didn't have a lot to do. Actually, now that I think about it, my room at the inn's even smaller than my house back in Canada..."

"Of course it is. It's an _inn_, right?"

"Ahh, that's true... So, your grandma doesn't mind if it's just us two here?"

"Nope, not in the least. When I told her about you just before you got here, she said you sounded like a very responsible boy and that she trusts you."

"She must be a very trusting person if she has so much faith in me just after meeting me."

"She is trusting. A little too much, but still... So, anyways, anything in particular you wanna do?"

"Ah, well-"

"Besides _that_."

"...Oh. Then how about some TV?"

"Just what I was going to suggest since there's not much else here."

"Not much else? So, you just have a TV here? What do you do other than that?"

"Of course I have more than a TV here! I have a laptop upstairs in my room!"

"Oh, you do? T-Then do you mind if I rush back to the inn and get my iPod? I want to put your CD songs onto it."

Suddenly the look in Rise's eyes became an unexpected fearful one. "Y-You want to leave? Already? B-But you just got here!"

"Wha- N-No, I'm not saying I _want_ to leave..." I replied, a little distraught by her sudden outburst.

"B-But you just said you want to go!"

"It... may have sounded like that... But if you don't want me to go-"

"Then _don't!_"

"Hu- WHAA!"

She suddenly tackled me onto a rather comfy chair (I did _not_ notice that there were two in here), and when we hit it it threatened to fall onto its back. Thankfully it didn't, but I was still pinned to it as Rise leaned over me. "If you leave now, there's a chance that that guy from the other day might come back! If you're not here to protect me, then who will?" I could _just_ make out the tears beginning to appear in her eyes. "I wasn't able to save myself when he went for me, so what makes you think I'll be able to handle myself again!"

"H...Huh..." I had no idea that Rise was still terrified of that. She seemed so chipper and perky the passed few days that I never even contemplated what she felt on the inside. I thought that she had already put it behind her, but it seemed the exact opposite happened... "I'm... I'm so sorry..." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. "I... I didn't realize you were still scared... You just seemed to be in such high spirits earlier that I didn't even consider it..."

My head was over her shoulder so I couldn't see her face, but after a moment I felt her small arms crawl around my back. "I was..." Rise had begun to cry softly. "I was just trying *sniff* to be more cheerful for you... *sniff* You don't realize how scared I was... I can hardly sleep at night because I'm *sniff* afraid he might come back..."

"You don't have to worry," I told her, small tears forming in my own eyes. I rubbed my hand over her back to calm her down. "If the slightest thing ever happens to you, I'll be by your side as soon as I can. No matter how far apart we are, I'll always be there for you." I pushed her back so that I could look into her eyes. The tears were streaming down her eyes and they kept dropping onto my clothes and the chair. "I promise you."

"A-Andrew-kun..." Rise sobbed, and before I knew it our lips locked again. It wasn't long after that that she stopped the kiss and hugged me even tighter than before. "I-I love you... so much..."

I squeezed her slim body. "I love you, too, Rise-chan... So please, stop crying... You're making me start to cry, too..."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry..." She bent her back up so she was over me and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I... I'll be right back..." Rise quickly hopped off the chair and ran to and through the kitchen. I heard her feet patter up a flight of stairs, and I figured that she had went to the bathroom to clean her nose and dry her tears.

So for the next minute I was just sitting in that chair thinking about what had just happened. _I hadn't even remembered to think of her at all... And she was nearly... r-raped... Of course she'd still be afraid of that! What the hell kind of boyfriend am I...?_

_**'Judging from your past memories, I can assure you that you needn't worry.'**_

_Huh? You can look at my past?_

_**'Of course. I am you, after all.'**_

_O-Oh, right... So, what do you mean I don't need to worry?_

_**'I mean it should be alright if you find yourself in a dilemma, considering she is your first girlfriend.'**_

_Y-Yeah, thanks... S-Sooo, uh... Ignore all of the weird stuff._

_**'Like those dirty pictures you looked up on this so called 'Internet'?'**_

_Yes, PLEASE._

I glanced over to the door and saw Rise walk back in. Her face was dry and she wore a small smile, but I knew she wasn't the happiest little camper. "Um... Sorry I ruined the mood like that..."

"N-No, don't worry about it." I chose then to stand from the chair. "So, um, did you... still want to watch TV?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I do... I just want to get my mind off of that..."

**

* * *

~3:00PM~**

Despite Rise's grandma coming back a few minutes afterwards, the girl herself insisted I stay with her. We watched a few shows and talked about this and that, and Rise's grandma actually offered to cook us lunch. I happily thanked her and had some homemade... I can't actually remember the name. I think it was 'yudofu', where tofu pieces are boiled in soup and dipped in soya-based sauce. It was actually _really_ good, and when her grandma offered me seconds I couldn't resist. When we were finished with lunch, Rise told me that a movie was playing on the TV and that it was one that she hadn't seen before, but wanted to watch. She also asked me to stay until the movie was over (it was a love comedy; not really sure what it was about, though), and when it was, we decided to go out and just take a walk around.

"So..." I started. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Rise replied with a small smile. "I'm just... trying not to think about it."

"Oh... Sorry for, uh, bringing it up."

"No, don't apologize. You were just worried."

"Right... So, um, where did you want to go?"

"I don't really care. Maybe for something to eat?"

"Err, I'm still kinda full from lunch..."

"Alright, we'll scratch that. Oh, there's this hill that overlooks Inaba a little ways away. How about there?"

"Huh, sure. How far away are we talking about?"

"We have to take a bus."

"Oh, well, oka-"

"I have no money with me."

"...Uh?"

* * *

It took a half hour to get to the top of the hill, and the view from it was absolutely breathtaking. You could see practically every inch of Inaba from there, and I was able to pick out Junes, the school, the Amagi Inn, Rise's house, Kanji's house, and Souji's. I was able to spot several little dots that I could make out as vehicles moving along the streets, and even tinier ones as people. "Wow..." I gawked. "This is... amazing."

"I know," Rise agreed. "My grandma always used to take me here when I was younger. We'd come up here for a picnic, and afterwards she'd point out our home. I could never remember where it was..."

"I used to have this big tree in my backyard," I said. "Though I could never reach the top of it, there was this one branch that I could just sit on and look at my entire neighbourhood. I could also spend an entire day up there. Did once, actually."

"Why was that?" She looked over to me with a curious gaze.

"I don't know, really... I guess I was just mad or something. Most likely at my parents..."

"Oh, really? So they got upset with you and you spent a day in a tree?"

"Ah, yeah. Something like that. I think it was because of a bad grade and I got really angry when they got really angry. It was a long time ago, so I can't exactly remember the reason."

"And yet you can still remember doing so?"

"Yeah. Kinda. ...Actually, no. My folks told me about it. They treat it as a 'precious family story' now."

"Aha, that sounds so cute!"

"Y... You really think so?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"So do you have any stories to tell?"

_Oh crap she frowned._ "Not... really. My parents were pretty strict when I was younger, and they were always on the go with their work and all, so I spent most of my time with my grandma..."

"What did- or, _do_ they work at?"

"My dad's a teacher and he's teaching science in a college in China somewhere, and my mom's a saleswoman and does her work in another part of Japan."

"...You don't know where?"

"No. Once I became an idol I... sort of lost touch with them..."

"O-Oh, I see..." _That would explain why she lives with her grandmother..._

Rise's twin tails flopped about as she shook her head. "So anyways! Let's talk about something less depressing." She eyed me with a teasing smile. "If you could choose between a romantic dinner or cuddling during a stormy night, which one would you choose?"

"Mmmm... Tough choice..." I put a hand to my chin and rubbed it in thought. "Maybe... cuddling during a storm."

"How did I know you'd say that?" Rise giggled. She turned back to the wonderful view and said, "Next time a storm hits and we're together, we're doing that."

"I'm looking forward to it," I said with smile. I returned my gaze towards Inaba and looked down at the little ant-like vehicles. "So, is there a way to make it rain quicker here?"

"If there was I'm not telling you. But I saw that we'll be getting some rain on Friday, so you're in luck."

I chuckled under my breath. "I must be." _HELLZ YEAH!_

**

* * *

~8:00PM~**

After our trip to the hills, we sat at the little benches that were there and talked some more. The two of us decided to then go to Souzai Daigaku and have some supper (super spicy meals are the best way to go, n_o question_). When we finished that and had successfully scorched our mouths, I told her that I had to leave so I could pick up some food for my bear and me. She immediately offered to come with me, so we made our way to Junes. I bought all of the things that I needed for the coming week, as well as some snacks for Ted if he ever gets bored. By the time we finished getting everything it was surprisingly 7:30, and I reluctantly told Rise that I had to leave.

Much kissing was done after that. Details are unneeded.

The moment I entered the inn, though, there was a loud commotion from one of its employees.

"A-Andrew-kun!"

Or, more specifically, from the manager's daughter.

"Ah, Yukiko-senpai."

"W-When did you get out of the hospital? No, wait, _why_ are you out of the hospital?"

"Earlier this morning, and because I'm apparently all better." I quickly skimmed over my thoughts. "And thanks for not visiting me, by the way."

"Wha- I did so visit you! Chie was there too, but you just were asleep, that's all!"

"I... I was?" _Awk-WAAAARD._ "Oops, sorry. My mistake."

"Well never mind that now. What do you mean you're apparently better?"

"I am." I lifted up my shirt and pointed at the stitches. "See?"

"A-Andrew-kun, put your shirt down!" Yukiko blushed as she buried her face in the blankets she was carrying.

"Huh? Oh, whoops." I pulled my shirt back down and continued, "For some reason, I'm not feeling anymore pain when I walk or poke it or whatever. The doctors noticed this and allowed me to leave. Oh, and Rise-chan's wounds are all healed up, too."

"They are?" She had returned to her normal color when her face emerged.

"Yep! She took her bandages off earlier and there's not a bruise on her face!"

"B-But... How can that-?"

My mood dropped and I frowned. "We don't know either. We think it has something to do with that 'connection' thing that Rise-chan and I have, but... we don't know enough about it."

"I see..."

I glanced at the clock and changed the subject. "Hey, Yukiko-senpai, when's the next time the men are allowed in the hot springs?"

"Hmm? Why, you're going in?"

"Yeah. I wanted to somehow make it up to Ted for not bringing him with Rise-chan and I to Okina City. I doubt the hot springs will be enough, but it's a start."

"Honestly, I'm glad Teddie wasn't with you. He would've gotten hurt along with both of you..." She quickly shook her head embarrassedly. "N-Not that I wanted you two to get hurt, I'm just saying!"

"Heh, I know what you mean. I'm glad he wasn't with us, too."

"Um... Actually now that I think about it, men are allowed in there now."

"Oh, really? Ahh, thank you! I'm going up to get Ted now!"

"Ah, no problem!" Yukiko said as I walked swiftly to the elevator. "Oh! Wait, Andrew-kun!"

"Yeah?" I asked as I turned my head around.

"A package came for you in the mail. It said to handle it with extreme care, so I brought it up to your room for you."

"Oh? Okay, thank you again! I appreciate it!" The elevator arrived at that moment and I rode it up to my floor. When I reached my room and opened the door, I saw a human-looking bear poking a neatly wrapped package sitting on the table. "_Tadaima~_" I announced as I strode in there.

"Huh?" Ted's head turned my way, and the second he saw me he leaped into my arms. Literally. "A-ANDY! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

"Geez, calm down!" I hissed at the bear as I set him down on the floor. And by setting him on the floor, I mean dropping him. "You're disturbing the inn!"

"You are too, but I don't care! Why're you out of the hospital?"

"I just discussed this with Yukiko-senpai, but look," I raised my shirt up to show the closed wound. "Somehow, someway, I'm all better!"

"Wow! Th-That's amazing!"

"I know! And to celebrate, we're going in the hot springs!"

"W-" Teddie's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, and if he were in his bear costume I'm sure they would've popped out. "_We are?_"

"I said _shush_! ...And yeah, we are. Go grab two towels, we leave in five seconds."

"Y-Yes sir!" The blondie ran off towards the bathroom, and as he did I glanced at the package on the table.

"I'll check that when I get back." Ted quickly came back in the room, and we were off in a flash. Well, Ted zoomed off; I just walked.

* * *

"Cannonball!" Teddie yelled as he jumped into the hot springs. Luckily there was no one else in there besides the two of us, so I let him do whatever the hell he wanted.

Except take a piss, that would be _bad_.

"Careful or your towel will fall off," I said to him as I walked over to the water. The bear didn't bother to listen as he floated on his back. Dipping myself into the springs, I gave it permission to soak my body in its open-aired and revitalizing waters. "Ohhhhhh, this hits the spot..." I was half-expecting the hot liquid to start to burn my wound, but it strangely did nothing to it.

"It's too bad we can't get Yuki-chan in here, too..." Teddie complained as he sat up straight.

"If we tried to get Yuki-senp- ...Yuki_ko_-senpai, in here with us, she'd skin us alive. ...Then she'd feed us to seagulls, kill _them_, retrieve our remains from their remains, put us together again and feed us her cooking."

"Can she even do that?"

"Knowing her, maybe."

"So, how're you even better anyways? You could hardly sit up the first time I came to the hospital."

"That's what I'd like to know," I sighed as lowered even further into the water. "Rise-chan's the same thing: she's all better, except neither of us knows why."

"Rise-chan's better, too? Then we should all go out to celebrate some time!"

"I was thinking that. I still need to make up with you about the whole 'leaving you behind' thing, so maybe you, me, and maybe Rise-chan can go eat out tomorrow some time."

"Y-You mean it?" Teddie's eyes were wide open.

"Of course. I... may not have enough money right now, though, so there's a chance that you might need to pay for your own food."

"Awww..." Teddie groaned as he dipped his blonde hair into the water. "Ah, well. I got paid the other day so I should have enough."

_Huh?_ "You got paid? How much?"

"Umm..." Teddie put a hand to his chin. "I think I got... 2600 yen. I think."

"Seriously?" _Whoa. Can't wait till I get paid._ "I'm sure that's enough for you to get a meal."

"Alright! I can't wait now! Where're we going?"

"Mmmm... Have you ever been to Aiya?"

"No."

"Then we'll go there."

"Wippeeeee! I love that place!"

"Wha?"

_

* * *

/Aiya? With you and Ted? Uhh... Sure, I guess. Though I wish it were just with you.../_

"I wish it were just the two of us, too, but I promised Ted that I'd make it up to him. And I don't really want to go back on that promise."

_/Mm... Yeah, you're right. We did kind lie to him and all... So, what time tomorrow then?/_

"Sometime around lunch, maybe twelve on the dot?"

_/Okay, sounds good! See you then! Love you!/_

"Love you too," I whispered into the phone so the bear wouldn't hear. I closed it and turned around to see him continuing to poke at that package. "We're meeting up tomorrow at twelve o'clock."

"Alright, then," he said in an uninterested tone.

I blinked, stood, and walked over to him. Standing over him I snatched package from in front of him. "The heck is this anyways?"

"I don't know. Yuki-chan just brought it up here a couple of hours ago. She told me not to open it, and I didn't!"

"I realize that. Good job." I sat down again on the other side of the table and proceeded to open up the parcel. The paper was wrapped around a box, and upon opening the box I gasped. "This is... my laptop!"

"Your what-top?"

"My laptop. It's like a little computer that you can take anywhere. I can't believe they sent it here!" There was also something sticking out from underneath it. Something green. "M-More money! Why'd they send this!"

"Ooh, money! Wait, that's not yen."

"I know that. I'm gonna need to change it up. How much is here...?" I counted it. "Five hundred!"

"Five hundred? That's not a lot! You can barely buy six Topsicals with that!"

"No, no, five hundred in Canadian money! In yen, it's like, 40,000 yen!"

"H-HOLY-!"

"I know, right!" I then thought of something. Looking at the clock in the room and noting that it was five after eight, I quickly took out my cell and called my mother.

...

...

_/*yawn* ...Hello?/_

"_Okasan?_"

_/...E-Excuse me?/_

"Uh." I cleared my throat. "M-Mom?"

_/Oh! Andrew, I didn't realize it was you! I thought it was another one of those telemarketers./_

"Sorry... Kinda forgot to speak English there for a moment..."

_/So why're you calling so early?/_

"Did you send me my laptop and 500 dollars?"

_/Oh! Yes, that's right! When I you called me about your exam results, I just had to reward you! And since your laptop was one of the things you loved to use, I sent that. And the money is just something from all of us!/_

"You..." I was about to say 'you didn't have to', but then I remembered Rise's CD. And hell, **money**. "Th-Thank you!"

_/You're welcome! Oh- I have to go now! Sean has to be driven over to the ice rink now so he can play!/_

"The... the rink?" My heart suddenly fell. "But... it's August."

_/I know. It's the kind of rink that always stays cold so people can play in the Summer./_

"Ah, right..."

_/Oh, my, he's doing so well, Andrew! He got named captain of the team and got three goals in his first game! He's going to be starting a tournament soon, and he's really excited about it! And I-/_

"Uh, mom, didn't you need to go?"

_/Hm? OH! Yes, that's right! Thank you for reminding me, Andrew. I'll hopefully be speaking to you soon. We all love you!/_

"Yeah... Love you too..." I closed my phone and sighed.

"_Nani ga sore nitsuitedeshita ka?_"

"Huh-" I quickly shook my head and glanced back to the bear. "S-Sorry, say that again?"

"I asked, what was that about?"

"N-Nothing." I suddenly yawned. "Welp, I'm off to bed."

"Already? It's only eight!"

"I know, but the hot springs made me so sleepy..."

"Really? I'm still wide awake."

"Mm... Well try not to stay up too late." _I'll get on my laptop tomorrow. Right now, SLEEP._ "G'night."

"Nighty-night!"

**

* * *

~August 3rd~**

**~Wednesday~**

**~11:30AM~**

* * *

"Time to get up, Ted!"

"Mmmm... Gimme... five more minutes..."

"You have five more _seconds _before I get that phone book out again."

"I'm up."

* * *

"Hmm?" As I exited the bathroom, I took note that Teddie was, as always, wearing those fancy clothes that Chie bought him. _...Or was it Yosuke, since she charged it to him?_ "You're wearing those clothes again?"

"Well yeah. I don't have anything else to wear," he replied, fixing that little rose on his collar.

"I, uh... I guess I could lend you some of my clothes." His eyes widened in surprise, but I continued before he could speak, "Yosuke-senpai will make your next set of clothes out of your fur if you ruin that suit, right? So it's probably best to play it safe and give you a set of my clothes. Heh, wouldn't want Kanji to start bawling his eyes out, now would we?"

"You mean it? You'll lend me some clothes?"

"Of course! We're friends, after all!"

"F-Friends..."

"Hmm? Ted?"

"T-Thank you so much Andy!"

"GAH! Teddie, let go of me! You're gonna make me- W-WHOA!"

_*THUD*_

**~12:00PM~**

So I let Teddie take a white t-shirt and red shorts. He chose to keep his shoes, but that was the least of his worries, so we made our way to the shopping district.

"Hm. You're actually on time today."

"I know. Didn't want to disappoint you this time."

"Wow, you're face really _is_ all better, Rise-chan! You look amazing!"

"Aww, thank you!"

I glared daggers at the bear. Of course, he didn't know about Rise and me, but I still stomped on his foot. For good measure.

I also just wanted to do that. It felt right.

"Oww! What the heck was that for?"

"Sorry, didn't see you there. Now c'mon, let's go. I'm getting hungry."

* * *

Eating out two days in a row is great. Especially when you're spending them with your girlfriend and a bear that's not really from this world.

"So you two don't have any idea why you got better so quickly?" Teddie asked us as we were slurping away our noodles.

"Nope," Rise replied. "It has nothing to do with our Personas, which makes it even _more_ weirder."

"At the very least," I said, "we're better now. No need for us to be stuck in a hospital room for the next two weeks, thankfully."

"That's just you," Rise glanced at me. "I wouldn't've been in there anyways since all I got was a few bumps and bruises."

"That may be true, but you still would've come by and checked up on me every single day."

"I would've, too!" Teddie exclaimed with a grin.

I frowned and sighed. "Unfortunately, that's true, too."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing."

"So, changing the subject," Rise said, "how's work for you guys?"

"It's awesome!" Ted yelled before I could answer. "I'm always there with Yosuke and he gets me to do all this cool stuff! Like mopping the floors and picking up garbage and cleaning the windows and-"

"And you think this is all cool?" I asked him jokingly.

"Yeah! Yosuke said it's the best way to score with girls!"

"Ahhh, _now_ it makes sense."

**

* * *

~12:30PM~**

After finishing our bowls and thanking the chef, we exited the restaurant to discuss where we'd go next. Teddie's suggestion was obvious -

"Let's all go to the hot springs!"

- but Rise's was something we could all enjoy -

"How about we just hang out or something?"

We all agreed to it and made our way to the Samegawa Flood Plain, where we'd chosen to hang.

One problem:

"Well look who it is!"

"...Oh for Christ's sake."

"Hm? Who's that?"

"And it looks like he's got _another _frickin' foreigner with him!"

"Those two punks from way back when in Okina."

"Oh geez..."

Without turning around I heard the two of them walk their way up to us. I was just noticing this now, but surprisingly they were taller than me, if only by a little bit. "I thought we told you to get out of here!" the taller one yelled.

"What you said was for me to get out of your city," I said harshly. "Last I checked, this is Inaba. Not Okina."

They started laughing really weirdly. "When I said that, I meant our _country_. So get yours and your friend's asses _out of here!_" I didn't move from my spot, but I had to control the anger building up in me. Rise and Teddie were glowering at the two, and I think the latter was growling slightly. After a few minutes, the taller one yelled again. "I SAID _**LEAVE**_, YOU _**PIECE OF SHIT**_!"

A hand suddenly clamped on my shoulder. I was spun around and saw a fist coming directly towards my face. Learning from all of my fights in the TV world, I instinctively ducked my head and allowed his fist to go flying over me. I remained silent as I punched him in the gut hard - around where the knife had stabbed me - and uppercutted him when he was bent over from the pain. The guy was sent backwards, and his accomplice was forced to catch him from falling flat onto his back.

"Rise-chan, Teddie, get out of here!" I hissed to them.

"What!" Rise shouted. "We're _not_ leaving-"

"I said _go!_" I interrupted. "I don't want to see either of you get hurt. Call Kanji or Souji-senpai or someone to help me."

"But-"

"Rise-chan, _please_."

There was no answer for a few seconds before she spoke. "...No." I glanced back at her in surprise, but there was a look of determination (and stubbornness) on her face. "I don't want to see you get hurt, either. I'm not having Saturday play out again!" She quickly stepped up to beside me and got into a fighting position. "I don't care if I don't have a weapon, I'm not letting you do this by yourself!"

I didn't know why she was insisting. I had figured she'd _want_ to stay away from fights because of Saturday's events, not willingly get into one.

And then it dawned on me - what happened over the weekend _was_ her reason for staying with me. She wanted to get stronger so she could keep herself safe.

_But, wait, I promised to protect her! Why would she want to fight if I said that?_

'_**Is now really the best time to be thinking about that?"**_

_Ah... No, you're right._ "...Okay." Her face beamed, but quickly became serious again. "Be careful. If things start to go bad, get the police."

"Right!"

"Teddie, you get out of here! Go to Kanji's place and get him!"

"A-Alright!"

The bear ran off passed all of us towards the Textile Shop. The two punks allowed him to pass since they were focused solely on us. "Heheheh... All the help in the world won't save you." I internally questioned if they were waiting for us to finish our talking, but I ignored it as the more plump guy tried to take another swing at me. Stepping back from his continuous punches, and also keeping a close and careful eye on Rise as she, too, dodged attacks - _Whoa, she's not half ba- DID SHE JUST KCIK HIM IN THE __**CHIN**__?_ - I attempted to take a chance and grab my assaulter's arm. "What the-" Before he could even finish his sentence I yanked his arm behind me and stuck my foot out, causing him to trip over it and fall to the ground (with a loud thud).

I glimpsed back at Rise to see that she was holding her own ground (the fights on the other side must've _really_ paid off), so I left it to her and focused on the guy I was fighting. He stood up and wiped his mouth of invisible blood, and then charged for me again. This time, instead of swinging for me, he went for a crushing leap to pin me to the ground (and I'm sure that would've killed me then and there), but I managed to sidestep him. He hit the pavement again, but he also stood up faster than I would've liked.

Before he could take another go at me a rather sharp pang in my head, as well as a yelp, told me to check up on Rise. She was down on both knees and holding her gut in pain and- _...W-Wait a sec, that's too low to be her gut! Oh... OH GOD!_ "You son of a _bitch_!" Ignoring the headache, I dashed at the punk and punched him right in the jaw. He yelled in surprise and fell over onto the ground. I looked behind me to my friend to see her still crouched over, but my gaze was taken by that fat guy running towards her. "Dammit!" I actually jumped over Rise and onto the other guy, but I was apparently too much weight for him, since he quickly toppled over. I sent punch after punch right at his face, but pretty soon I was hauled off of him. "WHA-!"

"HA!" I was being restrained by the taller of the two punks. The fatter one got up onto his feet and chuckled maniacally at me. "Let's see how much you enjoy being here after this!" He nodded at his partner and _HOLY- GEEZ THAT WAS A HARD PUNCH._ It was enough to get the wind knocked out of me. The fat guy continued to knock the stuffing out of me while they both laughed out in sheer delight. "No police here to help you now!" they taunted. The taller one motioned for his friend to stop, and before I knew it I was thrown to the ground. "Try calling for help now! There's no one who can-"

They were proven wrong. "_ANDREW!_"

Never in my life have I been so happy to see Kanji running down the hill "H-Hey!" I called out to him with a wave. "M-Mind helping out a bit...?"

Kanji didn't answer with words. Instead, he responded by socking one of the guys in the face, and pretty much _hurling_ him down the street. And that was the fat one.

The taller one gasped and backed away from him, which admittedly was right into Aiya's wall. Kanji turned his gaze to him, and that was _not_ a look of joy. "The hell do you think you're doing to my friend?"

"Tch!" The taller guy grunted under his breath and ran to his friend. He helped him up and glared back at us. "This isn't over! _You hear me!_"

"No, I don't!" I yelled back, the wind having returned to my lungs. "Don't bother! You'll just get your sorry asses whooped again!" They both grunted again, and ran off down the district.

"Don't provoke 'em," Kanji warned as he continued to watch them run off. "They value their pride more than their lives. You challenge 'em, and they'll come back."

"I'll be sure not to be out and around by myself when that happens, then," I responded. He extended a hand to me and helped me up. I quickly turned my gaze to Rise, who was being supported by Teddie. _THE PRICK'S HANDS ARE AROUND HER WAIST!_ "H-Hey, how are you?" I decided to simply ask her instead of flipping out at Teddie.

"I-I'm... alright," Rise answered. She pushed herself away from Ted and wobbled over to me. "I still hurt, but... I should be fine..."

"Where'd he hit you to, anyway?" Teddie asked innocently.

"...Ted, shut up," I deadpanned.

"Wait, what? Why?"

**

* * *

~August 4th~**

**~Thursday~**

**~4:00PM~**

* * *

Someway or another, word got around about our little scuffle. It became its own little rumor around town, which ultimately led to Yosuke finding out. He questioned my quick recovery, but excused it when it meant that I was able to work. I didn't mind so much since it would eventually mean **money**.

After finishing my work, I decided to take a walk around the Samegawa Flood Plain. Rise was busy running the shop today, so she didn't have any time to spend with me today. I didn't mind that - lovers are supposed to give space to each other anyways, right? So I was just wasting my time by watching the fish jump around in the river until I heard a voice.

"Andrew?"

Craning my neck around I saw Souji standing behind me. He was... fancily dressed for a day off. Polo shirt, jeans, and shoes instead of sneakers. "Hey, senpai," I greeted. "What's up?"

"I heard about your fight."

"Uh-" _Oh yeah, that's right. His uncle's a cop, so it's practically assured that he'd hear of it._ "Yeah..." I stood up to my full height and turned around to him. "How much did you hear of it?"

"All of it." My senpai didn't have a pleased look on his face. "You tried to fight them yourself, didn't you?"

"...Yeah, I did. But I then asked Rise-chan and Ted to go get Kanji. Rise-chan... decided to stay and fight, but Teddie went over and got him. I did as you said and called for someone to help."

"Mm... That's true..." Souji's frown suddenly turned into a small smile. "Next time that happens, make sure I'm around. I want to be able to help you fight them off."

I was a little surprised by his sudden change in mood, but I chuckled. "Sure thing."

"Did you want to go get something to eat? I'll pay for it."

"Uh- You sure?"

"Of course. Now come on, this offer won't last long."

"O-Okay!"

~"I'll have to stop eating out pretty soon," I said as I slurped down more noodles in Aiya.

"Why's that?" Souji asked me.

"I've been either here or at Souzai Daigaku the last three days now, either with Rise-chan, her and Teddie, or you. If I keep this up, this place will run dry of food."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. There always seems to be an endless portal to the meat dimension here somewhere..."

"Huh?"

"Uh, nothing. So, anyways, what happened with the fight?"

"Er... Rise-chan, Ted and I were coming out of Aiya and the two punks were suddenly there. They started telling me and Ted off - I guess 'cause he doesn't look Japanese - and went for a punch at me. I countered, but then Rise-chan insisted that she stay and help."

"And you told her no, but then gave in."

"R-Right. Ted went to go get Kanji and when he came down, he drove those two away. And... there's a chance that they may come back."

"Well don't worry about them," Souji reassured. "We'll get them together."

_He seems... a little enthusiastic._

_**'I wonder why?'**_

_Beats me._ "You got it, senpai. We'll curb stomp 'em!"

Souji chuckled, and we continued to eat our meals in silence. He suddenly spoke again, "So how's your family?"

I stopped with the chewing. "They're... Everyone's okay..."

"How's your brother doing?"

_Dammit did he have to ask?_ I sighed and said, "Oh, he's just _perfect_. Apparently he's made captain of his team! He scored three goals in his first match and wound up becoming champion of the galaxy!"

"Andrew, sarcasm isn't needed."

"Right, right, sorry..." I shook my head. "I mean, I know my folks are proud of him 'n everything, but why do they have to constantly gush over him? I mean every time I call them they're telling me 'how good he is' and 'he's doing an amazing job'... It just makes me sick that he's all they think about!" I glanced at Souji to see a stare of disapproval. "...O... Okay, maybe he isn't all they think about, but still!"

"Have you ever thought about _why_ they do so?"

"Huh? 'Course I have. It's cause he's a friggin prodigy, while I'm stuck one or two levels beneath him"

"I don't think that's the reason why."

"What do you mean?"

Souji sighed and said, "I wanted you to try and figure this out on your own, but by the way you're speaking, you won't. So I'll give you my opinion. You told me you're brother - Sean, was it? - was always trying to make this hockey team, right?" I nodded. "And how long did you say he was trying to reach this goal?"

"About... two or three years, I think..."

"Right, right... What _I_ think is the reason why you're parents are always talking about him is because he's working hard at trying to reach his goal."

"...Huh?"

He sighed yet again. "Let me ask something: was there anything in your life that you wanted to stick with? Something that's considered a big achievement?"

"Like... a sports team or something?"

"Yeah."

"Then no... I don't think so."

"Then I think I understand now. You're parents are always praising him because he's doing his best and working hard to try and reach his goals. They aren't saying anything about _you_ because you haven't been trying at anything. Am I correct?"

...

_...Holy shit. He's... he's right._ "You're... right..." I was speechless. How could _I_ not figure out my own problems? And they were _that simple. _"I've always worked at things half-assed... I've never stuck to anything like my brother has. It would always be something, but I never actually had something that I completely finished. I always gave up before actually trying to get better..." I slowly turned my head to Souji. "Thank you, senpai. You've given me a lot to think about now."

He blinked, and it was as if his eyes were out of focus at something. But they quickly looked back at me and he smiled. "Not a problem. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to finish this bowl before it goes cold."

"Oh, crap! Please still be hot...!"

**

* * *

**

**Hi there. I see you noticed that there wasn't an A/N at the top. ...Okay then.**

**Also, congrats to all of us for getting through twenty chapters! Yaaaaaaaay! Now where's my cake? ...Wait, what do you mean there isn't one? Don't tell me it was a lie!**

***insert crappy review one-liner here***

**anon:** I started thinking about the Lovers S. Link, too, and I've decided to let Souji have the rest of them (besides the last three).

**Astrih Konnash:** You're... _kinda_ right about Wyvern's abilities. I'll put both his and Himiko's at the bottom of the page, in case you or anyone else wants to look at 'em.

**Gamerof1458:** You, sir, are correct.

**eggmiester:** I just wanted to put that somewhere. For laughs. And sorry, but no, Bahamut won't be Andy's second Persona. He looks awesome, but I don't want any crossovers in this story. Third one, yes there will be.

**Jharoz:** Ufeejf would make sense, but he doesn't feel that way for Rise. And Obpup would be just plain OOC, man. Although, I've already got this one idea flowing through my cranium...

**Windmarkd10:** You're probably remembering the line from Fairly English Story if you ever read it. And Rise does love to tease him, but it's starting to get tiring to her now.

**

* * *

...DAMMIT I POSTED IT AND FORGOT THIS. Oh well, here you go:**

_**WYVERN**_

**Arcana:** Aeon

**Initial Level:** 30

**Advantages:** Fire (strong); Electricity (absorb)

**Disadvantages:** Ice, Wind (weak)

**Physical Attacks:** Cleave; Rampage; Fatal End

**Spells:** Agilao; Zionga

**Debuffs:** Sukunda

**_HIMIKO_**

**Arcana:** Lovers

**Initial Level:** 35

**Advantages:** Ice (strong); Wind (absorb)

**Disadvantages:** Fire, Electricity (weak)

**Physical Attacks:** Torrent Shot; Mind Slice

**Spells:** Bufula; Garula

**Debuffs:** Rakunda

**Passive:** Traesto

**Please note that these are their skills so far. There will be more as they get stronger.**

**Okay later!**


	21. Planning Ahead

**...ARGH. I am an idiot. Would someone kindly _shoot me in the head_, please?**

**Notice for update: I never realized that Ishihama is really far away from Okinawa, where the P3 gang wanted to go. And since Inaba is close to Port Island, they would want to go somewhere close to there. I was foolish and chose without thinking, so I have to change their destination. Please forgive me.**

* * *

**So I noticed that you noticed that there's an Author's Note at the top this time.**

**I also noticed that you may have noticed that this was updated in a relatively short period of time.**

**Social Link, GO! ...I mean reviews. Reviews GO, or, whatever.**

**Astrih Konnash:** I was afraid that someone might think that the pacing of the story is _too_ fast, but apparently this is not the case. Thanks! Teddie was only there just because he could be; he's not going to be an important part of the Social Link.

**Casey W:** Never actually watched FullMetal Alchemist, so I can't judge her deep voice. Plus, Blandy Andy was only joking around with her (the two seem to like to poke fun at one another, don't they?) If you want to word it like that, then go on ahead, but since Aeon is weird (should've done more research before I started, _bad_ KJman *headdesk'd*), it's more like he's wondering what he should do with his life. ...Although those may be the same things. ^^;

**anon:** Thank you! I've seen this webpage before, but thanks for posting it anyways!

**Jharoz:** I can... sorta see that. It'd be funny, yes, but totally out of character for her.

**To all of you who didn't review on time, shame on you. Or you were just too slow. Or didn't bother to review at all. Oh well.**

**Disclaimer: That guy who's point of view is the point of view in this story is mine. I, like, own him 'n junk. Persona 4 belongs to Atlus. And stuff.**

* * *

**~August 5th~**

**~Friday~**

**~Time Unknown~**

* * *

"Hard working... Focused... Not quitting..."

_**'How long are you going to think about this?'**_

"...Not sure. Until I can figure out what I want to do."

_**'Why not have a career in video gaming? You seemed to love playing them.'**_

"I want to try and stay away from games as much as I can. All my life, I've been cooped up in my room, either playing something or simply on my computer. My friends and I hardly met outside - we'd always be chatting with each other over the Internet. I hardly got any sun, or fresh air, or whatever. I only went outside when I had to."

_**'And this relates to you trying to decide what to do with your life... how?'**_

"It's not really relating to it. I was just saying that I _don't_ want it to be about games.'

_**'So then you still haven't figured it out yet?'**_

"Sadly, no."

_**'...What else were you interested in? Something that you enjoy that you can continue to work on...'**_

"Shouldn't you know that? I mean, the whole 'I am you' stuff?"

_**'That... **_**is **_**true. However, I believe this is something you should figure out for yourself.'**_

"Whaaaaat?"

_**'This is an important decision. Do you really want the answer coming from me? Or you, yourself?'**_

"B-But... What if I _can't_ figure it out myself? What if I'm stuck in a rut forever?"

_**'I am sure something will come to you. Perhaps you could get Souji to help you, like he's been doing for a little while now.'**_

"Yeah, I suppose... You know, I think this is the first time the two of us have been in here together without Rise-chan suddenly popping in."

_**'Is that a good thing?'**_

"Hell no."

_**'...Perhaps you are right. I'm finding it hard to contain my sanity with just you here.'**_

"H-Hey! Watch it!"

* * *

**~12:30PM~**

For lunch today, Teddie and I had two cups of instant-ramen. It was nice and spicy for me, but Teddie wanted to have a regular cup - it didn't seem like he enjoyed spices much. Which is weird.

About halfway through the meal my cell rang.

"Hello?"

_/Hey, Andrew-kun!/_

"I'm sorry, he's not here right now. Please leave a message and I'll make sure he calls you back."

_/Ohhh... Okay, then if you don't mind, tell him 'we're' finished, please./_

"I'll be sure to do that. Have a good day, Ms. Kujikawa."

_/Same to you. Good-bye./_

I couldn't keep the laughter within me. Neither could Rise, but Teddie was just staring at me with a confused expression. "What're you laughing about?"

"N-Nothing Ted... Ahaha!"

_/S-SO! Heehee- *ahem* W-What're you doing?/_

"I'm enjoying a well-cooked meal of instant-ramen soup with Ted here. How about you?"

/_Same, except I'm having an actual lunch instead of the instant-stuff./_

"Oh I see."

_/Hey, did you wanna come over after? It's raining, you know~?/_

I glanced out the window at her mentioning of it, just to see how much it _was_ raining. And it was coming down pretty hard. "It is, isn't it? And what did you say we can do on Friday?"

She giggled on the other end of the phone. _/So you're coming over then?/_

"You know it! I'll see you later."

_/Yep! Love you!/_

"Lo-" I quickly shut my trap and glanced to Ted. He was currently digging into his lunch, but I had this feeling that he was secretly listening to my conversation. "Uhh... Y-Yeah, bye..."

_/...Is... Is everything okay?/_

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'll tell you after, bye." I closed the phone before I could even hear a reply from her. _Whew, that was a close one..._

"What did Rise-chan say?" Teddie asked me.

"U-Um... She was just wondering if we could hang out later..."

"Oh! Can I come too?"

"..." _Dammit Ted, didja hafta ask?_ "...Do... Do you mind staying home today...?"

Teddie immediately grumbled and hung his head back behind him. "I _knew_ you would say that..."

"I'm sorry, Ted... Tomorrow, I'll spend the whole day with you, I promise."

Instead of the bear's head shooting up in surprise, like I thought it would, he just lazily rolled it to one side, so he was looking at me with one of his eyes. "You promise?"

"I do. If I wind up breaking that promise, then... I'll... Uh... I-I'll buy you anything you want!"

_Now_ his head shot up. "Seriously! You mean it!"

"Yeah."

"ALRIIIIIGHT!" Teddie hopped up onto his feet and pranced around like a little boy.

"But that's _only_ if I don't stay with you tomorrow. Got that?"

"R-Right! I completely understand!"

"Good. Then I'm going now." I got up and walked to the closet.

"H-Huh? Already?"

"Yep! Rise-chan told me to get there as soon as I can." Actually she didn't, but oh well.

"Mmm... Alright, but hurry back!"

"_Hai, hai._"

* * *

_Rain rain, go away, and NEVER COME AGAIN._ The water droplets heavily beat off the top of my umbrella as I walked swiftly to the shopping district. There were plenty of puddles to avoid, but apparently they'll be much bigger by the end of the day. It was a smart choice for me to come the time I did.

That creepy gas station attendant was there again, but he just simply waved to me instead of bringing up a conversation. When he's not talking, he looks downright normal, but I already labelled him as 'odd', so there's nothing I can do about it now.

"Heeey!" Rise called out to me as I walked up to her house. Despite it being early afternoon, she was still wearing her pyjamas as if she just got up: a pink tank top and white slack pants.

"Hey!" I said to her. The moment I got in the building I was greeted with a big hug and kiss.

"I was wondering when you'd get here," she said, not bothering to let go of me, even though I was a little damp from the rain. "You were taking too long."

"It took the normal amount of time to get here. And aren't you getting wet?"

She squeezed me tighter. "I don't care."

I only chuckled. "Of course you don't."

"Hey, what happened earlier? You hung up so quickly."

"Eh, sorry... Ted was right next to me so I couldn't say it."

"Well, say it now."

"I love you."

"Okay. Now say it like you mean it."

"Haha..." I squeezed her as hard as I could. "I love you _so much_."

"Guh! C-Crushing me...!"

"I know!"

* * *

Rise's grandmother was asleep upstairs (according to Rise the rain makes her tired), so the two of us chose to watch some TV for lack of anything better to do.

Annnnd we were also sitting on one of the chairs with a blanket covering us.

Annnnd the chair was too small for us to sit next to each other so she was on my lap.

"Hey," Rise spoke, turning her head back towards me. "I don't think you ever told me what your family's like."

"Huh, I didn't, did I?" I replied. "Well, let's see... They're kind..."

"Figured that."

"They're caring..."

"Basically the same thing."

"The love me..."

"Obviously."

"And they transform into superheroes and fight off demonic monkeys from the planet Uranus."

"Saw it comin- Wait, what?"

I grinned a toothy grin, but she just bopped me on the head. "Owie," I winced as her fist hit me.

"Seriously now. What kind of jobs do they work at?"

"My mom works with the Canadian government. What she does exactly is kind of private, though. Not even _I_ know what she does..."

"Hmm... Then what about your dad?"

"He's a construction worker, though he doesn't work all the time. Usually in the summer and around then."

"And in the winter?"

"He gets laid off and doesn't work for, like, half the year. It's not really good financially..."

"...So, then... why did they let you come to Japan? I mean, I'm super glad you did, but... it just doesn't make much sense to me..."

"...You know, one day, I just said that I want to go to Japan, and they said, 'Oh, sure, why not?' ...And now that I think about it, that was just too easy."

"Hmm..." Rise tilted her head back so it could rest on my shoulder. "Something seems fishy about that. What kind of parents with financial problems would let their fifteen-year-old son move to another _continent_ by himself...?"

"Parents who... trust said son a lot? And that don't mind the extra burden of sending him money?"

"Mmmmaybe. Who knows, though? Next time they call you should ask them."

"Yeah, I think I will."

"By the way, how much money did they send you again? 40,000 yen or something?"

"Yeah, somewhere around there. Still haven't spent it all."

"Well that's good. Maybe we can use it to go somewhere."

"Like where?"

"I don't know, a trip maybe. Like to the beach."

"Which beach?"

"Zeai."

"How far away is that?"

"Not far, maybe an hour or two to the east of here. We could get Teddie and the others to come with us to, if you want."

"I don't care. Although I'd rather it just be us, I wouldn't mind having them around. I haven't exactly had a decent conversation with Kanji or Chie-senpai since we had to go to the hospital..."

"Well, this might be a good way to get some bonding done. I also haven't seen most of our senpai since then."

"So when's a good time to go then?"

"How about Sunday? It's supposed to be clear on that day."

"...You knew about today, and now Sunday it's supposed to be clear... How do you know so much about the weather?"

"I like to watch it just to make sure we can spend the day together."

"Really now."

"Yeah! ...Well, no. I just watch it because my grandma watches it all the time. I just happen to catch the upcoming weather and remember it."

"Aha, I see. So then Sunday's a sunny day?"

"Yep. We could call the others and see if they'd like to go."

"Sure thing! When should we tell them?"

_*RIIIING RIIIING*_

"Now would be a good time," Rise said with a giggle. She took out her cell phone. "Heh, it's Chie-senpai."

"Oh, tell her I said hi!" I laughed.

"No way." She flipped open the phone. "Hi senpai!" Her grin suddenly fell. "When did what happen? ...Me and Andrew-kun getting together? What're you talking-" Her eyes shot open. "It was on the _news?_ ...Right _now?_" She turned to me. "Turn it on, quick!"

"Uh, okay." I flipped through the channels and came to the news. The announcer and commentator were talking about something, but I wasn't focused on that. What I was focused on was the picture next to their heads. It was of Rise and I holding hands, walking down a street. We were looking at each other and not at the camera, which was probably how it got such a good angle. "W-When...?" _Man, I should've realized this would happen. I'm dating a celebrity, for Heaven's sake!_

I heard Chie shout something incomprehensible on Rise's phone, and the twin tailed girl said, "Y-Yeah, he's here now... Speaker phone? O-Okay..." She pressed a button on her phone and Chie's voice filled the room.

_/When the hell were you two going to tell us?/_

"S-Senpai, shush!" I hissed into the phone. "Rise's grandma is-"

A hand shot over my mouth. "Don't tell her!" Rise whispered to me.

_/What? Why should I be quiet? This is big news, even if you didn't tell me!/_

"Senpai..." I sighed. And then _my_ phone went off. I checked the caller ID. "Yosuke-senpai...? ...Hello?"

_/__**WHEN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN!**__/_

"Uh, Tuesday."

_/Oh. That's not that long. Hey, what was it like kissing her?/_

"W-What? Why would you want to know _that_!"

"What?" Rise asked me. Chie was still yelling things in the background, but Rise quickly shut her up by closing her phone.

"He... wants to know what it was like kissing you."

"He does?" Rise was perplexed at this question, but smirked and pressed the speaker phone button on my phone. "It's the best thing that could've ever happened to him! No one else's lips will _ever_ make him feel the way mine do! You should feel jealous of him now that you know that!"

Insert me blushing here.

_/__**WHA-!**__/_

And Rise slammed my phone shut, flipped it open again and turned it off. She did the same thing with hers and threw them both onto the other chair. "Now they won't be bothering us."

"Bothering us? We're just talking though."

I took note of the playful grin on her face. "There won't be any talking for a little while, sorry. And by a little while, I mean a long while."

"Huh...? Oh! A-Ah, no, I don't mind no talking at all."

She shifted herself around so that she was over/on top of me. "Good." Her hands caressed my cheeks as I put my own around her waist. Our faces inched closer together, but _JUST_ as our lips were about to meet, a voice called out.

"_OIIII!_"

"What the-" Rise quickly pulled away from me and stared at the living room door. "Was that Kanji?"

"I... I think it was." The girl got off of me and walked over to the tofu-shop-part of the house. I got up and followed her. We were right - it _was_ Kanji.

"Why're you hear?" Rise asked him in an agitated voice.

"So the news program _was_ right!" Kanji declared, slamming a fist into his palm.

"Well, I'd say it was pretty obvious..." I mumbled, but they both ignored me.

"So, that all you came to check on?" Rise asked him, tapping her foot slightly. "'Cause we were in the middle of something."

"What?" Kanji actually bothered to look her over - _**YOU SHITHEAD **_- and his eyes widened when he saw her pyjamas. "In the middle of something... D-Don't tell me-!"

"_Wha-!_" Now Rise's eyes opened. "Nooooo, no no no no no! Not _that_! We were just kissing, nothing more!"

"N-Not by the looks of what you're wearing!"

"_NO! JUST SHUT UP!_" And then she ran up to him and kicked him in the stomach, which actually made him go flying out of the shop and flat on his back on the wet street. Just to make sure he stayed out, she jumped up and grabbed a hold on the shutter and pulled it down, effectively sealing us away from the outside. She huffed a bit before turning to me with a big smile. "So, I guess keeping it a secret is pointless now."

"Y-Yeah..." In all honesty, I was a little caught off-guard of Kanji's mentioning of... _that_. But I tried to push all of those thoughts back into my mind. "Hey, um, if no one was watching the store, why was it still opened?"

"Oh, there's a little alarm that's set to go if anyone goes past the front counter."

"That's still kinda dangerous though..."

"I'm not worried, though. The police department's just down the street, anyways."

"True... So, um, now what?"

"We... go back in and watch some more TV?"

"Or... we could... y-you know, continue..."

"I like that idea better."

* * *

**~2:00PM~**

Rise's grandmother was actually woken by the loud yelling and the slamming of the front door, so our make-out session had to come to abrupt stop when she came down the stairs. Rise also instructed me to sit on the floor instead of the chair. I minded, yes, but I had little choice in the matter.

With my girlfriend's grandma not that far away from us, there was a _tad_ bit of uncomfortable silence in the air.

"Andrew-kun," the old woman behind me started. "Where did you say you were from?"

"Canada," I answered as politely as possible. "My parents allowed me to come out here on my own for a couple of years. Just to see what it's like."

"My, that's nice of them. Letting your child go out and see the world... Though I suppose I'll have to allow that when you want to go back home."

"Hmm?" Rise turned her attention to her grandma. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to want to go with him, right dear? To meet his parents."

"O-Oh!" _Had she not considered that yet?_ "Right... I had completely forgotten about that..."

"Though, I don't think there'll be a time soon that I'll go back home for a visit..." I told the two. "Maybe at Christmas, but not around now."

"Aww, I really wanted to see where you're from, though," Rise moaned behind me.

"It's not that great, really. Inaba's _way_ better than Toronto, in my opinion. I mean, there's no skyscrapers, not as much traffic, there's actually peace and quiet at night... It makes me wish I was born and raised here."

"I enjoy it here, too, but I also want to see more of the world. I've been all around Japan, so next on my list is North America!"

"I'm willing to bet that not a lot of people will know Rise Kujikawa up there, so don't expect to be waited on hand and foot."

She seemed a little surprised by this, but continued and said, "It's not like I'm being served now. I do things on my own." She paused. "Oh, by the way, you mind getting me a drink of water? I'm really thirsty..."

I sighed with a smile. "Yes, your highness."

* * *

It wasn't long after that that Rise went upstairs to her room to actually get dressed for the day. When she came down (in a red long-sleeved shirt, a beige skirt and black stockings), she suggested that we actually go out somewhere and do something instead of being stuck inside all day long. I reminded her that the rain was still pouring outside, and that there weren't a lot of places we could go. She then got an idea:

The TV World.

...But I didn't have my glasses with me, and that would mean going back to the inn and getting them while disturbing Teddie.

But Rise already had a plan. She said not to worry about it, so I grabbed my umbrella and the both of us walked back towards the inn. Of course, _she_ had an umbrella, too, but she left it at her house; the redhead insisted that we share one.

When we got to the inn, Rise took her phone back out and called someone. "Senpai, do you mind coming down to the lobby? There's something I need to ask of you." She paused, then sighed suddenly, "Yes, that news report was true. But never mind that, come downstairs, please!"

It wasn't long after that that Yukiko appeared from the elevator door. She wasn't wearing the kimono she had on the other day; instead she had a black shirt and white skirt on. _Today must be here day off or something._

"What is it?" Yukiko asked when she approached us.

"We need you to distract Ted for a few minutes," Rise told her.

Yukiko's eyebrow rose. "Um... Why?"

"I need to grab my glasses and I don't want Teddie to know," I replied sheepishly. "If I go back in there then he'll force himself with us."

"Your... glasses?" Yukiko asked before realizing. "You're going to the other side, aren't you?"

"Not that far in, though!" Rise reassured. "We'll stay at the entrance and won't wander off in there!"

"But what if a Shadow-"

"My scythe's still there, remember? I'll slash the snot out of any Shadows that may come towards us!"

Yukiko was still reluctant, but gave in nonetheless. "Alright, alright... What do I need to do?"

"You just need to get Ted away from the room for a little while," I told her. "Tell him... ah... you need some help in the kitchen or something."

"But... I _don't_ need help in the kitchen."

"Oookaaay... Um, then how about getting him in the hot springs?"

"Umm... Well... I guess that could work... Though it's almost three, and the men's turns end every odd hour."

"We'll just have to hurry, then," Rise nodded. "Alright, thank you, senpai! We'll repay you, I promise!" She bowed to Yukiko, which meant I had to, as well. "Okay, let's go!"

* * *

On the floor with my room on it, Rise and I hid behind a rather large plant not too far away from the door. Without too much straining, I was able to hear Teddie on the room's phone with Yukiko.

"What's up, Yuki-chan? ...Huh? T-The hot springs! You mean with _you_? ...Oh. Well, I guess I could go. I don't really have much else to do. Oh, by the way, did you hear about Andy and Rise-chan?"

"Gahh, everyone _does _know about that now," I mumbled under my breath.

"Quiet!" Rise hushed.

"Huh? Oh, right, I'm going!" I heard the phone being hung up and, after a few minutes, the bear opened the door and ran towards the elevator. The moment the door closed behind him Rise and I quickly went to my room.

"So, did you want to stay out here?" I asked her as I fumbled with my key.

"N-No. Why would you ask that?"

"O-Oh, I just thought that it's still a bit too early."

"It's not. I've actually been waiting for you to invite me in."

"...Ooh... Sorry."

"No no, it's alright. At least I'll be able to see it _now_."

"True, I guess." I finally got the door opened and stepped in. "Alright, welcome to my room. No time for a tour, though, we've gotta get moving."

"Uh, okay." While I quickly tried to find the glasses, Rise chose to look around a bit. "S-So, umm..." _She's totally not prepared for this._ "I am now in the room of Andrew Ricketts... It seems quite clean for a boy his age, and-"

"What, so now _you're_ a reporter?" I asked jokingly, not looking up from the pile of clothes in the corner.

"I-I was just talking to myself, is all!"

"Then if you have time to do that, help me look, would you?"

"U-Um, right!" After deeming the glasses to not be in the pile of clothes, I stood and swiftly stepped over to the drawers beneath the TV stand. As I was looking through them, Rise piped up again. "S-So, um, where do you keep them?"

"...Keep what?"

"You know. The 'goods'."

_...Oh, THAT._ "I don't have any."

"You don't? Really?"

"Yeah. Never bothered with it." Well, I'd look stuff up, but I wouldn't keep any of it.

"I see..." I heard her chuckle from wherever in my room she was. "Good. I'll bring my photo album next time I come here."

"Album? Of when you were a kid or something?"

"No, stupid, the one with those swimsuits! They're really cute!"

"...Ohhhh. Wait, wouldn't it be better for you to bring the actual suits instead...?"

She giggled again. "If you really want me to, I can."

The glasses weren't in the TV stand, so I went over to the coat rack and checked the pockets. "That'd be nice," I said with my own laugh. "But we'll have to get Teddie out of here again... Dammit, why'd I say he could stay here with me?"

"I don't know, it was your decisi- ...Wait a minute, you lied, you liar!"

"What?" I turned my head to her. "What did I lie about?"

She held up... one of _those_ magazines. "You totally _do_ have a stash here!"

"Wh-Wh-What the hell! Th-That's not mine! Where'd you get that from, anyways!"

"Under your bed! See?" She stood up from the futon and pointed to the pillows. "And they're right beneath your head every time you sleep!"

"I swear they're not mine! And-" _Oh wait a minute._ "And that's not even _my_ futon!"

"...Huh?"

"You were looking under Teddie's bed." No reaction at first. She looked down onto the futon and, after about a second of staring, gasped and quickly hopped off of the futon in surprise. "Goddamn, I did not know that bear had those kind of magazines! Where the hell did he get them?"

"I-I'm, uh... I'm sorry!" Rise folder her hands in front of her and bowed before me. "I didn't realize that wasn't your bed!"

"H-Hey, there's no need to apologize! You didn't know!" Before she could say anything else, I turned back to the coats. "We gotta find those glasses, though, so don't worry about it."

"U-Um... Alright."

* * *

After another minute of searching, we finally found the glasses in the bathroom cupboards. Why the hell they were there, I don't know. At three o'clock, Teddie dejectedly returned to the room, but we were already out of it by then. Rise and I thanked Yukiko again and made our way to Junes.

"That time didn't count."

"Hm?" I glanced down to the redhead beside me. "What didn't count?"

"Me going into your room. It didn't count."

_Confusion, GO._ "Why?"

"I wasn't in there long enough. Next time will count."

"Uh, if you say so."

* * *

**~3:30PM~**

Since it was raining out there weren't many people who bothered to come out to the department store, so Rise and I calmly made our way to the TVs. The inside of it was the same as always: foggy, yellow, and creepy beyond belief.

After stepping in there and putting on the glasses, I attempted to spark my hand again. It took a little effort, but the electricity flowed through my veins eventually. "It's been a little while since I've done this."

Rise came in right behind me, and said, "Hey, don't go showing off like that! I'm not as good as you are!"

"Well, you're just gonna hafta catch up!" I replied with a snicker.

She scoffed at my remark and fully came through the TVs, but she must've lost her balance somewhere along the way because she wound up running into my back. "Wh-Whoa whoa whoawhoawhoa!" Her arms wrapped around my gut as she planted her face into my spine.

And this also proved a theory that, every time I charge up my arm, electricity runs throughout my _whole_ body.

Rise's also weak against Zio skills, by the way.

_*BZZZZZZZZZT*_

A shriek, and she fell to the floor.

"AHH! RISE-CHAN!" I quickly dropped to my knees and scooped her up. "H-Hey! Are you okay!"

"Y...Yeah..." Rise said, twitching ever so slightly. "T-Though that was p-probably my fault... I r-ran into you... Drat, I sh-should've known b-better..."

"N-No, that was just an acci-"

"O-On purpose."

"O... Oh..."

"M-Mind helping me up...?" she asked, seemingly extending a hand to me.

"S-Sure thing." I was about to take it in my hand and actually pull her up, but before I could grasp it it went around my neck. Her other hand went around the other side of my neck. "Um-"

"A-And by helping m-me up, I mean c-carrying me."

"...How you can kid and smile like that after being electrified is something I can't comprehend." She grinned even wider as I placed my arms around her back and underneath her knees and hefted her up. _HOLY SHRINE MAIDENS AND ORDINARY WITCHES MY HAND IS SO CLOSE TO HER... UM, HER, UH... Y-YEAH._ She held onto my neck tightly as I did so she wouldn't fall out of my grip. "S-So, um, uh... Now what?"

"Sit down at the railings. L-Like last time."

"Uhh, okay." I carefully and slowly walked over to the edge of the platform so I wouldn't lose my balance, and when I got to one of those... tall... metal... things, I slid my back down it and landed onto the floor. "Ow!" I had fallen too fast, which caused my rump to slam into the floor. Rise didn't seem to hear me, as her head was looking around the area. "H-Hey, what's up?"

She looked back at me, surprised at my voice, but returned to taking in the view. "It's... not as romantic as I thought it would be."

"Well, obviously it's not. This is, like, a demonic world. Or something."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." The small volts that had been running through her seem to have vanished. "Oh well!" she suddenly declared. "As long as no one can interrupt us, I'm fine with wherever we can go!"

"Hey, hey, don't say that. Just you watch, someone's just gonna pop up here now."

"Ahh, you're just being paranoid. C'mon, who'd want to come in here _now_? We're done with the case, so no one will want to come back in here."

"_We _just did."

"...That doesn't mean anything."

"Suuure it doesn't." I decided to change the subject, "So how're you feeling now?"

"A lot better. I recovered quicker than I thought I would've."

"It's probably like the whole fast-healing thing."

"Either that, or you somehow absorbed the electricity from my body. You can, like, do that, right?"

"...Oh, that's right, I forgot I could... Then that could explain that."

"I'm sure that's it."

"You're only sure that's it because you thought of it."

"Yeah, so? That a problem?"

"I didn't say it was."

"I know you weren't." She sat up from my arms, swirled around and came face to face with me. "Last time we were here, I never go to do what I wanted to, right?"

"Kiss me?"

"Yeah."

"But you've already done that."

"So you're saying you don't want me to?"

"I didn't say that."

"You made it sound like you said that."

"Well I didn't mean it."

"Are you sure? For all I know you may not like my kisses."

"Do you want me to prove you wrong or something?"

Her arms went around my neck and she leaned in _very_ close to me.

"Yes. I do."

I smirked and my own arms went around her back.

"As you wish."

* * *

**~August 6th~**

**~Saturday~**

**~11:00AM~**

* * *

"The beach?"

I had told Teddie about mine and Rise's plans to gather everyone up and go to Zeai Beach. I was instructed to tell the four boys, and my girlfriend had the much easier job of telling the only two other girls on the team.

"Yeah. I've yet to ask everyone else, but hopefully they all say yes!"

"S-So, what're we gonna do there?"

"Mm... Swimming, maybe play some volleyball or something. We'll only be there for a day, so there's no need to rent any hotel rooms or anything... So, will you go with us?"

"Of course I will!" The bear seemed overenthusiastic. "When did you say we were going again?"

"Tomorrow."

"_T-Tomorrow_?" Teddie shot up from the table and quickly looked around. "I-I need to start packing, _now_!"

"It's still only early, and we're only going for a day, like I said. You're not gonna need much."

"Yes I will!" Teddie put his arms on my shoulders and shook me rather hard. "Don't you realize what this means! We'll be seeing the girls in swimsuits! Do you know how long I've waited for this! Besides Rise-chan, of course."

"Dude, calm down." I put a hand to his face and pushed him away. "What does the girls in swimsuits have anything to do with how much stuff you're bringing?"

"Alright, let's see..." Teddie seemed to have begun to ignore me. "I need a camera, a bottle of sun screen so I can rub it on them, beach balls, water guns... Oh, and I guess I'll actually need a pair of swimming trunks..."

"Wha- Of course you will!" I stood up from my spot at the table. "You're not going there without anything to wear!"

"But I don't have a pair."

"...Oh crap. Alright, alright, here's what we do. I'll call Kanji and my senpai, and after that we go to Junes and get you a pair of trunks."

"Okay! Hurry up and call them!"

"Gotcha! Wait, I don't take orders from you." Sticking my tongue at the bear, I retrieved my cell phone and speed dialed Kanji.

After a few rings: _/'lo?/_

"Ah, hey, Kanji!"

_/Oh? Andrew, 'sup?/_

"Uh... First, I want to apologize for what Rise-chan did yesterday. It looked painful."

_/Y-Yeah, it hurt a bit... Luckily I didn't catch a cold from the rain, so I'm all good./_

"Good, 'cause we were going to go out to the beach tomorrow. I already got Ted to come with us, and now I'm asking you."

_/The... The beach!/_

"Yeah, you know. Sand. Sun. Girls in bikinis."

_/Y-Yeah I know what beaches are! I'll come with ya!/_

"Good! I'm not sure how much it'll cost to go there, so bring as much money as you can!"

_/Got it! Tomorrow, right?/_

"Yep, meet us at the train station at... Ah, I don't know, nine AM?"

_/Sure, sure thing! Later!/_

"See ya then!" I hung my phone up and turned to Ted. "Kanji's comin' with us!"

"Okay, now call Yuki-chan!"

"Nope, sorry. Rise-chan said she'd do that."

"What!"

"Alright, next is... Souji-senpai." _Speed-dial, GO._

...

...

_/Hello?/_

"Hey, senpai!"

_/Ah, Andrew. How are you?/_

"Good, good. Anyways, Rise-chan and I decided to take a trip to the beach tomorrow, so we were wondering if everyone would want to come with us."

_/The beach, huh...? Well I don't have anything planned for tomorrow.../_

"Then would you like to come with us?"

_/Hmm... I wouldn't mind, but Nanako-chan will wind up by herself all day then.../_

"Then we'll take her with us! The more the merrier, right?"

_/Huh... Yeah, that's true. Alright, we'll go to the beach! When should we meet up?/_

"Tomorrow morning at nine, at the train station, if you don't mind."

_/Sure thing! I'll see you tomorrow./_

"Okay, bye! And bring as much money as you can!" I once again closed my phone. "So Souji-senpai's coming with us, too!"

"Now all that's left is Yosuke, right?" Teddie asked me, apparently done his 'packing.' He had a small shopping bag with a towel, sun block, a sun visor, and sandals.

_Where the hell did he get those last three things...? _"What happened to the beach ball and camera?" I asked him, mostly jokingly but with a tad bit of curiosity.

"Ah, there's none of that here."

"Of course there's none of that here." I continued to ignore him as I called Yosuke's cell phone.

...

...

_/Hey, Andy! Where are you?/_

"I'm, uh, at the inn?"

_/Well why aren't you here? I called, like, an hour ago to tell you and Ted to come into work!/_

"Y-You did?" I glanced to Teddie. "Did Yosuke-senpai call earlier when I was asleep?"

"Uhh... OH! That's right, he did! I forgot all about it!"

_/Oi! Why the hell do you sound so proud about it!/_

"Senpai, we'll come to work, but first answer a question for us."

He sighed on the other end. _/What is it?/_

"Did you want to go to the beach tomorrow?"

_/The beach? ...Is everyone going?/_

"I know all of the dudes, plus Nanako-chan, are going. Rise-chan said she'll ask the girls."

_/Well, let's hope they go! Sure, I'll come along!/_

"Alright! That's everyone! We're meeting at the train station tomorrow morning at nine sharp! Don't be late! And bring some money, too!"

_/Gotcha! I'll see you there!/_

"Later! Oh, and, yeah, we're coming now!" I closed the phone before he could say anything else. "Okay, Ted, we're going to work now, and after we're finished that, we'll look for a pair of swimming shorts for you."

"Yipeeeee! I can't wait! Let's go now!" The blondie dashed towards the room's door.

"Alright, hold your horses, or bears, or whatever!" I got up and went to retrieve my jacket, but when I placed my hands in the pockets I felt something. "Huh?" I took out a small slip of paper, and an idea formed in my head. "Waaaaait a second."

"Hmm? What?" Teddie glanced behind his shoulder.

"I'm not done calling everyone yet."

"You're not? Who else is there to call?"

"Hang on, now." I punched the numbers in and allowed the dial tone to flood my eardrums.

...

...

_/Hello? Naoto Shirogane speaking./_

"Heey, Naoto-san! It's, uh, Andrew."

_/Oh? Andrew-san... Have you remembered something regarding the case?/_

"A-Ah, no, not exactly... I was just wondering, um... If you wanted to go to the beach with me and my friends."

The detective was silent for a few seconds. _/The... the beach?/_

"Yeah."

_/I-I apologize, but... I... I-I don't know how to swim./_

"Hu- You don't? Well... that doesn't really matter, does it? You could just lie in the sun or something. And plus, we're not going to be swimming the entire time..."

_/B-But, are you sure you want _me_ to come with you?/_

"Yeah I'm sure. I mean, you saved me twice before from a beating and... well, _death_, pretty much. I felt like I should thank you in some way."

_/And inviting me to the beach is your way of saying 'thank you'?/_

"Well, yeah, and, um... It's just, you also seemed... kinda lonely at times. And whenever you pop up you're alone, so I thought you may want to hang out with my friends and me."

Naoto was pondering the idea, but after a few moments, _/When would we meet?/_

"Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, at the train station."

_/...I... I suppose a little break wouldn't hurt.../_

"So, you'll come with us?"

_/...If that is what you want, then yes./_

"Sweet!" I pumped a fist into the air. "We'll see you at the train station tomorrow then! And we'll all be paying a fraction of the train ride, so bring some money!"

_/Ah... A-Alright./_

"_Ja ne!_" I closed the phone for the forth time and turned to my bear. "Alright, that's five people on my end coming with us!"

"Seriously? Wow, you're a good negotiator!"

"Ahh, not really. It's just that a lot of guys like to go to the beach for the sole reason of seeing the skin of females."

"I can understand that," Teddie said as he nodded with an... experienced look in his face?

"Oh, I meant to ask you something."

"What?"

"Where the hell did you get that magazine?"

"M-Magazine?"

* * *

**Short chapter! But it's long at the same time (I mean, the document says it's eighteen pages long O.o;) Not to worry, though. I'm in the process of gathering ideas for the next chapter already.**

**And in case you were wondering about the exact location of the beach... Yes, it's an actual place, and since Inaba isn't given a definite location in Japan, I'm just randomly putting it on the map.**

**Later, gaters!**


	22. Hitting the Beach: Part 1

**Okay I'm back. Nice to see everyone again. Sorry about re-updating the last chapter, by the way. I just needed to get it right.**

**Anyways, reviews.**

**Casey W:** Ehh, yeah. See, I just chose a place at random and didn't give it any more thought. I probably should've done more on that ^^;

**anon:** They weren't practicing their skills, they just went to the TV world to be alone. But yeah, the team may decide to get together for that sometime later. And Naoto... let's just say she'll be used in the plot. Sometime.

**Windmarkd10:** Not much happens to Ted in this chapter, but wait for the next one if you want to. And don't worry, no one will harass Andy here.

**Jharoz:** Normally that would happen, but he's already got a pair of boobs to hang out with XD.

**I'm hoping this chapter will be enjoyable. So go on and read 'n stuff.**

**Disclaimer: Andrew is mine and mine alone. I also do not own the location of the majority of this chapter and the next. And P4 owns Atlus. I-I mean, the other way around.**

* * *

**~August 7th~**

**~Sunday~**

**~9:00 AM~**

* * *

"And... they... are... late," announced Rise as she slammed her phone shut. "They better have a good explanation why, too!"

"Calm down," I told her. "You're always so picky about what time a person shows up. And I should know."

"Yeah, well, I just don't like waiting."

"Where did you say we were going to again?" Yukiko asked us.

"It's called Zeai beach," Rise told her. "It's not too far from here. Shouldn't take too long to get to."

"You know," Teddie spoke up, his hands behind his head. "I could've sworn you said some other name. Can't really remember what it was, but I certainly know that it wasn't this 'Zeai' place."

"You sure?" I asked him. "I'm positive that we only said Zeai..."

"Mmm... Nope, nope, still can't think of anything."

"Well, whatever. The others should be here soon, anyways."

"Oh, hey, you're right! Here comes senpai now!"

Rise pointed down the street and I turned my head to look. Not too far away from us was Souji and Nanako, the latter of whom was holding her big bro's hand, as well as Yosuke and Chie. They all had small bags slung over their shoulders (besides Souji, since he had both his and Nanako's) as well as beach clothing instead of their regular attire.

"Heey, Sensei!" Teddie cried out to him as the four of them approached us.

"Hey!" Yosuke called out. "We're here!"

"You're late!" Rise said to him impatiently. "What took you guys so long?"

"What took us-" Chie was taken aback. "B-But we're on time, aren't we? I mean-" she quickly took her phone out and checked the time, "-it's only, like, one minute after nine!"

"And we agreed that we'd all get here at nine o'clock on the dot! So you're late!"

"B-But-!"

"No buts!"

Ignoring them as they continued to banter, I glanced over to Souji and Nanako, who were already talking with Yukiko and Teddie respectively. Yosuke, having no one else to talk with, came over to me.

"So," he started. "You and Rise-chan, huh?"

I sighed. "Figured you'd bring that up. Yep, me and her."

"When did she start showing signs that she liked you?"

"Not to be rude or anything, but why are you asking?"

"I'm just curious, is all."

"Mm... Well, the moment I was questioning whether or not she liked me was after we caught that Mitsuo guy." Yosuke glanced to the side when I mentioned his name, but I continued. "After you and the others brought him out, Rise-chan and Kanji helped carry me to the entrance. And since she couldn't use Traesto to bring a knocked-out person back to the entrance, they had to carry me the whole way. When we got to the entrance, Naoto-san was wandering around the electronics department-"

"Naoto?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, surprisingly. We couldn't leave until he left, so we-"

"Wait, you called him a 'he.'"

"Yeah, I know. Anyways, we couldn't leave until he left, so we just waited at the entrance for him to wander away. At that time, Rise-chan and I sat on one side of the platform with Kanji on the other. While we were just listening to music, she got on my lap and tried to kiss me."

"S-Seriously?"

"Yep. Although Kanji stopped her before she could with an outburst. Then when we went out to get the ingredients for those omelettes, Rise-chan told me that she wanted to kiss someone away from the cameras and scripts and stuff and, considering that I was the closest male to her relationship-wise, she chose me."

"I... see..."

"It... may also be due to those feelings we get around each other, but that's besides the point."

"Probably."

"So, enough about me." I looked Yosuke in the eye with a smirk. "Who do you like, senpai?"

"Who do I-? Wh-Why do you want to know that?"

"You asked me a question, so now it's my turn. So who is it?"

"Th-There's no one I like right now."

"Chie-senpai?"

"_W... What!_ How'd- I-I-I mean, n-no way! Why would I fall for _her_?"

"'Cause when we were having that party for her, you were about to interrupt Souji-senpai to say you had a gift for her."

"W-" He was nearly pissing his pants. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I won't tell, I swear. ...Maybe."

"You... _better_..." His hands were in front of him, and he looked as if he were trying to keep himself from strangling me. "If you don't... I'll..."

"You'll what?" I asked, not realizing I was tempting fate.

"I'll... _fire_ you."

_Oh shit._ "A-Ah... Okay, I'll keep it hidden."

He opened his mouth to speak, but a distant voice cut him off. "_HEEEEY!_" Everyone turned their heads towards the voice to see Kanji running up to us. He was carrying a small bag filled with the normal stuff, but in his other hand-

"A surf board?" Souji asked aloud when the first-year reached us.

"Yeah..." Kanji gasped for breath, both hands on his knees from exhaustion. "Got it from... some kind of contest... some time ago..."

"A contest that had a surf board as the prize?" Yukiko asked.

"It was one... of the prizes... the others were little toys... but I didn't want the guy... to think I was like that..."

"And so you took the surf board," I finished. Kanji nodded, and I asked, "Can you use it?"

"Nope... never went to the beach... to try it out..."

"Well, it's probably better to try it out now than never, right?" Yosuke asked.

"I... kind of know how to use it," Souji told us. "I could teach you guys if you want to know how to use it."

"Oh, sure!" Teddie shouted. "From what I've seen, it looks like a lot of fun!"

"Can I try it, too, big bro?" Nanako asked him, looking up with hope in her eyes.

"U-Um... We could go on it together, if you'd like," Souji replied to her, most likely not wanting his little sister out so far in the ocean.

Nanako's face lit up at this. "Okay!"

"So then," Rise spoke, grabbing everyone's attention. She smiled and said, "Everyone ready to go?"

"Huh?" I blinked. "N-No, wait, we're still waiting for someone."

Now everyone looked at me. "We are?" Chie asked. She did a head count. "No, there's nine of us here. That's everyone."

"Oh, no, wait!" Teddie exclaimed. "Did Andy not tell you guys? He invited that Naoto guy to come with us!"

Everyone was a bit surprised at this, but Kanji's eyes nearly came out of his sockets. "Y-You did!" the big guy yelled.

"Yeah. I just figured I'd invite him since he... well, basically saved Rise-chan's and my lives..." I didn't really want to bring it back up, but that was still my reason. "P-Plus, he always was alone when he approached us, right? Makes me think that he doesn't have any friends."

"I think that's a good idea," Souji nodded. "He did seem kind of lonely..."

"But... wouldn't he be asking us about the case?" Yosuke asked us.

"Well, it's over, so why would he?" I replied to him.

"Oh, hey, speak of the devil!" Chie announced, looking down the street. "Here he comes now!"

We all turned our gazes to the street to see Naoto walking towards us. Like everyone else, he had a small bag in his hands. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt and black shorts that nearly went down to his shins. And he was still wearing that detectives cap of his. I grinned at the fact that he actually showed up, and waved to him. That seemed to catch him off guard, but he just waved back.

"So you really did invite him..." Yukiko mused as we waited for him.

"Yep. I just had to thank him in some way," I told her.

"He looks..." Yosuke said. "...kinda happy."

"Well, I'd imagine he is," Rise said. "I mean, it's the _beach_ we're going to. Who wouldn't be happy going there?"

"Heh, true."

When Naoto finally reached the group, we all gave him a warm welcome. "Thank you for inviting me along with you all."

"Hey, no need to be so formal," Souji remarked. "We're all friends, right?"

Naoto blinked, but quickly smiled (rather largely, in fact) and nodded. "Yes, indeed we are."

"Okay then." Everyone's attention was drawn back to Rise. "Are we ready to go _now_?"

We all agreed to that, and made our way inside the station.

* * *

After about a half hour of waiting and everyone idly chatting with each other, the train came and all ten of us boarded. Everyone paid a fraction of the ride, but it pretty much meant that everyone paid for their own ticket. I had to pay for my ticket in full, but I still had a nice amount of money left, so everything turned out okay.

The train's seats were like the ones on the first train I rode: two seats next to each other, and another set right in front of them facing towards them, sort of like a group of four. Rise and I sat next to each other in one spot (I had to give up my window seat for her, and that made me rather heartbroken), and the one right in front of her was quickly taken by Chie. In the set of four on the other side of the aisle, Souji and Nanako took two seats next to each other, with Yukiko and Teddie sitting right in front of their talking mates.

For some reason or another, Naoto chose to take the seat right next to Chie and in front of me, which left Kanji and Yosuke all by themselves in a different group, away from the rest of us.

"I hope you enjoy the window seat," I said with fake disdain to the redhead next to me as we settled into our seats.

"I'm sure I will," she replied with a big smile.

"You know..." Chie spoke up. "I don't mean to bring it up in a bad way, but... What happened at Okina City that one time wasn't really explained to me... If it's not too much trouble, could someone tell me about it?"

I glanced towards Rise and saw that her grin had vanished. It was obvious that she didn't want to be reminded of it, let alone have it told to someone right in front of her, so I reached into my pocket, retrieved my iPod and held it out to here. She was surprised at the offer, but her smiled returned in a genuine form and she took it with a 'thank you'. She placed the ear-buds in and scrolled through the music.

"Allow me to explain, then, from my own perspective," Naoto started, but he quickly glanced to Rise. She was already looking out the window, bobbing her head up and down slightly to the beat of whatever song was playing. Taking this as a go ahead, the detective turned back to Chie. "I had been simply walking through Okina City's shopping mall when I saw Andrew-san walk towards the bathrooms, as if almost limping..." I gulped at that. "At first I paid no heed to him, but when I heard him suddenly yell at someone, I-"

"H-Hey, this is my song!" Rise suddenly cried out, looking down at my music player.

"Ah, right, I forgot to tell you," I said to her. "The first thing I did on my laptop was transfer all of your songs onto it."

"Really?" That smile returned to her. "That's so sweet! But, why didn't you mention it to me?"

"It, uh, just never crossed my mind... Sorry."

"No, no, it's alright! Thank you!"

Naoto suddenly cleared his throat, and with two more apologises he continued. "As I was saying, I ran to where Andrew-san was and looked around the corner. I saw that he was on his knees and that there was blood spilling onto the floor. I figured that something had happened, and so I informed the hospital that there had been a stabbing. An ambulance was quickly on their way, so it was then that I chose to act."

"Um-" I interrupted. The two on the other side seemed a tad annoyed at me, but I said, "Excuse my interruption, but where did you get that revolver of yours, anyway?"

"Revolver?" Chie asked. Her eyes widened all of a sudden. "Wait, you... You mean a _gun_?"

"Precisely," Naoto nodded. He turned to me, "The prefectural police allows me to wield a firearm, although there are only certain time when I'm allowed to take it out of its holster."

"S-So, you have it here now?" I asked him.

"No, of course not. I chose to leave it home for the day. I had thought that I wouldn't need to use it at the beach."

"A-Ah, right... Yeah, that's true I guess. I can't really see anyone holding up a _beach_ of all places."

"Continuing on, I only managed to make the perpetrator flee before I could apprehend him. I had contemplated going after him, but I had to make sure Andrew-san and Rise-san where okay."

"And so he got away, then..." Chie concluded.

"Yes, unfortunately," Naoto sighed. He looked up at me. "Forgive me, but as I am no longer with the police, I don't know many details. Although, I know that soon after they loaded you up in the ambulance, I saw the Okina City police start to interview the people that were in the mall, asking them if they had seen a suspicious man lurking about. But from the few that I heard, there was no one who said that they had."

"And so we don't know where he is, huh?" I asked. Naoto only shook his head. I sighed, "Figures..."

"For a little while," Chie said, a sheepish smile on her face. "I had thought that Souji-kun's uncle would be investigating this, but then I was reminded that it happened in Okina..."

"You know, I had thought that, too," I replied, "the first time I heard that it was being looked into."

"Oh, by the way, Andrew-kun?"

"Hm?"

"How did you get better so fast? I was told you'd need a week to recover, at the very least..."

"I, too, would like to know that," Naoto pitched in, looking straight at me. "The blade was driven into your stomach quite a ways in. Normally, you wouldn't even be out of the hospital today."

"To be honest, I'm not sure why..." I was just about to say that it may have something to do with Rise and I, but I caught myself. Naoto didn't know about Personas, the TV world, Teddie, or anything else. My girlfriend's and mine 'connection' probably doesn't belong to that category, but I still chose not to say it. "H-Hey, mind if we talk about something else? I don't really want to think about it much..."

"Very well, then."

Before we actually could, though, the strangest thing ever happened. I didn't really pay attention to him at first, but when I actually looked, there was someone else sitting over there with Yosuke and Kanji, casually chatting away with them.

And, oddly enough, that person was Adachi.

"Adachi?" I whispered to myself. "Why's he here? ...Is it his day off, or something?"

"Hmm?" Chie's voice turned my attention to her. The second-year had a curious expression on. "What're you looking at?"

"A-Ah, nothing important, really... It's just that Adachi-san's here, too..."

"Adachi?" She leaned forward to look at Yosuke's and Kanji's seats, and sure enough Adachi was sitting right next to Yosuke. Naoto, taking note of this, looked back as well. "Huh? Why's he here?"

"Same thing I'd like to know..." I replied. He must've seen us looking out of the corner of his eye, because he turned, smiled in his goofy way and waved to us. Chie and I awkwardly waved back to him (Naoto didn't bother to), and we sat right back up straight in our seats.

"You don't think he's seriously going to try to hang with us?" Chie asked quickly and quietly.

"He better not," I said. "Last thing I want is to have an adult with us while we're here..."

"We'll just have to drive him away, then," the second-year giggled.

"Heh, yeah." Glancing back over, I saw that Adachi was still looking at us, although his attention seemed to be directed towards Rise for some reason. I turned my head to her to see that she wasn't paying attention to any of us at all - she was still listening to my iPod, as if no one ever said anything. Looking back to the older man, his gaze was shifted back towards Yosuke and Kanji. I was confused at this, but thought nothing more about it.

* * *

**~11:30 AM~**

* * *

"_WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!_" The moment the train stopped and its doors opened, Teddie rushed through them and to the station's entrance. The rest of us were left baffled as we watched him stop, turn around and run back to us. "I forgot my bag."

"Here you go," Souji said amusingly, handing out his bag to him.

"Thank you, Sensei!" the bear thanked, and he once again dashed off towards the entrance.

"Does that guy even know where to go?" Yosuke asked.

"Doubt it," Kanji answered. "He's never left Inaba, so I'm sure he doesn't."

"So then, let's go after him," I said. "He'll just get lost, right?"

"Yeah," Souji nodded. He stepped out a bit in front of us and turned around with a rather big smile on his face. "We have to get to the beach as fast as possible to have the maximum amount of fun before the day is wasted, so let's hurry!"

"_Haaaaaai!_" everyone, including Adachi (but not Naoto), cried, and we all followed Teddie out of the station.

* * *

The beach wasn't that far away; actually, it was only about a five to ten minute's walk. There were tons of people already there, with their parasols sticking up out of the ground and whatnot. Young children were throwing beach balls around, chasing one another, or just going for a dip in the water. There were adults just lying down in the sun, and some of them were even out in the ocean doing laps back and forth. There were also a nice few stands and stalls set up, waiting for customers to go up and buy a drink or two or eleven.

"W-Wow..." Yosuke gawked as we looked down at the beach. "S-So many swimsuits...!"

"Will we be allowed to stay for the next week or so?" Souji asked, perhaps jokingly, as he, too, scanned the sand.

"Anyone see him?" Chie asked, ignoring the two. Her hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun as she looked for the bear. "I can't see him anywhere..."

"Oh, hey, I see him!" Rise announced, pointing down at the beach. When I squinted my eyes, I could _just_ make out his little blonde hair running across the beach. Or, no, wait. He was hopping towards the water, alternating between his feet. "I... guess the sand's hot."

"Good thing we brought sandals, then," Yosuke said. "C'mon, let's go." We all followed him as he made his way down the steps and onto the scorching sand. His sandals were on, so he didn't feel any pain, and neither did the rest of us. We all stopped in the middle of the place, looking around for a place to lay out our towels.

"Ah, over there!" Yukiko shouted as she walked towards a strangely and conveniently unoccupied area. It had five beach chairs laid out in a row, as well as a green and red parasol between each one. When we got there, Yukiko laid her things on the farthest seat to the left, and Rise and Chie did the same in the chairs next to her. Naoto decided to take the chair on the right hand side, and as I was about to nab the last one, Souji and Nanako quickly claimed it for themselves. I wasn't about to complain about that, though.

"Okay, so what first?" I asked as I set my own things down besides Naoto's chair.

"We're going swimming first, obviously!" Kanji announced. He laid down his bag and surf board, removed his shirt and charged for the ocean (he was already wearing his swimming trunks).

"Ah-! Hey, wait for the rest of us!" Yosuke bellowed at the guy. He took off his own shirt and ran after him, but along the way he got smoked in the head with a beach ball. Souji, too, removed his shirt as Nanako, Yukiko, and Chie also got into their swimsuits (they were under their clothes, they didn't just change!), the latter two seeming to care a little less this time around. I also noticed that their swimsuits were the same ones they wore at the school campout.

As the four of them rushed off towards the waters, Rise, Naoto, Adachi and I were left to get our things ready. Naoto chose to remain in his chair, but Adachi turned to me and said, "I hope you guys don't mind me sticking around. I don't really have anywhere else to go..."

"Nah, of course we don't," I told him, although I wasn't that sure myself. "We're all taking breaks from things, so just go on and enjoy yourself!"

"Ahaha, that I'll do." As he turned and walked to the waters, I swore I heard him mumble something, but I didn't really catch it.

"Hey!" Rise's arms were suddenly around my own arm. "Come on, let's go!"

"Ah- H-Hey, _HEY_!" And before I knew it I was being dragged off towards the waters. We wound up running passed Adachi and straight for the sea. And just before we hit the waters, Rise stopped and let go of me, which caused me to go flying face first into the water. "_**HOLY SHI- I MEAN CRAP IT'S FREEZIIIIIIING!**_" _Can't swear in front of Nanako-chan, must remember that. Though that probably doesn't matter since I said that in the water._ My head emerged from the icy waters, and I turned around to face my girlfriend. "What was that_-_!" My face started to quickly heat up. _...She's... She's wearing a two-piece...!_

Those two pieces were bright yellow, similar to the one her Shadow wore, except this one wasn't as golden, there were flower designs on it, and it wasn't about to be thrown off. "I just wanted to see if it was cold or not! Thanks for proving it for me!"

"Why you-!" Before I could finish my sentence, Rise dove into the water and popped up right next to me.

"I'll race you!" she said to me, and submerged right back into the water.

"Wha-! Oh, no you don't!" I kicked off of the sandy floor and started swimming outward. I saw her hair pop out of the water as she, too, began swimming farther out. I picked up the pace and was able to catch up to her, and even pass her a bit. But then she wound up passing me again. _Wow, I never would've thought she was __**this**__ good..._ I pushed myself further and further to try and surpass her, and it took about a few minutes to do so.

But just as I was about to get a head on her, she grabbed a hold of my arm and made me stop. I looked back at her and was about to ask why, but she quickly said, "We're going out too far! Let's go back!"

"W-We are?" I looked passed her to see the beach a nice ways away. I could just barely manage to make out the others, and by the looks of things they were watching us and trying to get us to come back. "Y-Yeah, let's hurry back!"

Rise nodded and let go of my arm. As we both started swimming back, she looked at me with a smirk. "Who ever gets back to the beach first has to buy the other whatever kind of drink he or she wants!"

_A bet, huh...?_ I grinned as well. "You're on!" I kicked it into high gear without even waiting for her to respond. The moment I did though, there was this blob of red that was inching its way in front of me with each passing second. _Oh HELL no!_ I forced my arms and legs to move faster than they ever have before, and slowly but surely Rise was starting to lag behind me. I managed to get a bit of distance ahead of her, but then a hand grasped my shin. With all of her might, Rise pulled me backwards, and as I was flowing back she raced on ahead of me. "_OI!_" She simply looked back at me with a wink and a stuck out tongue.

I was _not_ about to let a cheater win. Urging every last inch of my energy in my body to my arms and legs I _swam_ as _hard _as I could. Somehow, I was able to catch up to her in a moment's notice and passed her with a splash. The beach was getting closer and closer to me, and before I could even comprehend what happened I wound up crashing into someone. That person let out a scream and landed right on top of me, forcing me down onto the ocean's floor.

"Mmm!" I didn't have a chance to breath as whoever was on me pinned me to the sand. I could tell by the shorts that it was male, but because the water makes everyone lighter I couldn't tell who I toppled over. Soon enough they swam back up and I pushed myself up as well.

"Watch where you're going, would you?" Teddie asked me as I emerged from the sea. His hair that was normally pointed to one side was completely flattened thanks to the water. "I can't swim well, you know! What if I drowned?"

"Then-" I coughed the salty water out of my lungs. "Then you would not be missed, my friend."

"Wh-What!"

Rise chose to swim up by my side at that time. "Wow, I never expected you to swim so fast," she told me.

"Yeah, same," I said between heavy breaths. "How'd you get so good anyways?"

"Swimming was the only sport I was in throughout my life. I just happened to get really good at it."

"Impressive." I put on a big smile. "Now then, I'm thirsty. Fetch me a root beer, please, my dear."

"...Huuuh, fine. A bet's a bet." Rise swam over to the shore and stood up straight. She started walking towards our parasols and... a-and...

_..._

_Left, right, left, right, left, right, left-_

_*BOOMP*_

"Ow." Without warning, a beach ball was thrown straight at my head. Looking to my right I saw all of the others looking at me with big grins on their faces (except Nanako, who didn't know what happened, and Adachi for some reason).

"You shouldn't be staring at her like that, y'know!" Chie announced to the whole beach with a laugh.

"Wha-" _Oh shit they saw me._ "I-I wasn't staring at her!"

"You totally were," Yosuke said with a chuckle. "Your eyes were moving back and forth, dude." He swiftly moved closer to me. "I can't blame ya, though."

"Huh- ...Oh, hey, wait a minute!" I grabbed onto his head and pushed it down under the water. The rest of the group started laughing at this shenanigan, and I managed to keep his head under there for a good ten seconds before he punched me in the face. "OUCH!"

Yosuke's head shot out of the water and he gasped for air. "What the hell was that for!"

"You were checking her out, too, weren't you?" I whispered to him in a harsh tone.

"Yeah, so-" I crossed my arms and glared daggers at him to stop him in mid sentence. "...Oh. Uh, r-right, um... Sorry."

"Mmm..." I glanced over to the shore to see Rise watching us. She had a hand over her mouth as she was trying to stifle a laugh, but it wasn't helping much. I caught myself chuckling, too. "Well..." I turned back to Yosuke. "Just remember for next time, 'kay?"

"R-Right."

"Good." I looked back to Rise to see that she was already walking back towards our spot. My eyes (somehow) managed to wander away from her... um, behind, and actually looked back towards the chairs. Naoto was still sitting in his, but his cap was off and on one of the arm rests of the chair. "We invited Naoto out here and he still chooses to be by himself..." I mused out loud.

"What, doesn't he know how to swim?" Souji asked to no one in general.

"No he doesn't," I replied. "But that doesn't mean he should be alone."

"Then let's go up there and spend some time with _him_, then," Chie suggested.

"You guys go on ahead," Adachi said, turning away from us and walking off. "I'm gonna spend some time out here."

"Whatever you say," Yosuke said to him, and the rest of us made our way up towards him. I saw that Rise was talking with him; about what, I'm not sure. The two of them saw us approaching and turned to us.

"Oh, hey, guys," Rise greeted us. "I was just about to come back down. After I got _you_ you're stupid drink, that is."

"You don't need to get it right now," I said with a big smirk. "Just before the day's out."

"Okay, whatever."

"Why're you all here?" Naoto asked us.

"You seemed all lonely and stuff," Yosuke said. "So we're gonna spend some time up here with you."

"W-With me?" The detective seemed generally surprised by this. "But... there's not much to do up here, is there?"

"Um..." Yukiko looked around the beach and gasped. "Ooh! Volleyball!"

"Volleyball?" Souji repeated, glancing towards her.

"Yeah, look! There's an empty net over there that we can play with!" Everyone looked in the direction she was looking in, and sure enough there was a volleyball net without anyone accompanying it.

"Oh, we can!" Chie exclaimed. "But, uh, does any one know _how_ to play?" Everyone of us said yes, even Nanako and Teddie. "...Oh I see."

"So shall we go play that, then?" Rise asked.

"Sure, why not?" I said.

"Big bro, can I play, too?" Nanako asked her older brother/cousin.

"Of course you can!" Souji said to her, which earned him a bright smile from the six year old.

"Okay, let's go!" Chie shouted. "C'mon, Naoto-kun, you'll play with us!"

"Me?" the kid asked, pointing to his face.

"Yeah, duh! You're here too! We're not leaving you out of anything!"

"Um-" Before he could say anything further, Chie grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away from the chair and towards the net. Naoto quickly glanced back to the chair and reached an arm out. "Ah- Wait, my hat!"

"You don't need it for volleyball!" I told him as the rest of us followed them (Kanji was walking at a slower rate, though). "Unless the sun gets in your eyes, that is."

"Ooh, I just remembered!" Rise cried. She did a one-eighty and raced back towards the chairs.

"Huh? Where're you going?" Teddie yelled out to her.

"I brought a camera with me! We can take some pictures of this!"

"Oooh, nice idea!" The volleyball net wasn't that far away from our spot - maybe about twenty or thirty feet or something. By the time we reached the 'court,' Rise had ran back to us with a small pink camera with a strap tied to it.

"Okay, so what'll the teams be?" Yosuke asked us.

"Maybe we should go normal and go guys against girls," I proposed.

"Guys versus girls?" Yukiko repeated. She looked over each of us and said, "But there's four girls and six boys."

"Really?" I counted as well. "O-Oh. Then, um..."

"We'll want to take some pictures, too," Rise said, "so how about we have four on four with two guys sitting out?"

"But who'll sit out?" Souji asked.

Every dude looked at each other for a second, and before I knew it Souji, Yosuke, Teddie and Kanji raised their hands and yelled 'not it!' at the top of their lungs.

"W-Wait, what?" I was not expecting them to do that, and apparently neither was Naoto. "That's not fair! I totally wasn't ready for that!"

"Sorry, you were last!" Teddie said while slapping my back. "Better luck next time, bub!"

"B-But-!" I knew arguing would be futile, so I sighed in defeat and sat down on the sand, mumbling all the while. Naoto said nothing, supposedly not caring if he played or not, and sat down next to me as well.

Rise walked over to me and was about to hand me the camera, but Chie quickly shouted. "Waaaait, wait wait. Don't give it to him!"

Rise glanced back at our senpai. "Huh? Why not?"

A smirk formed on her face. "'Cause if Andrew-kun's taking the pictures, every one of them will have you in them!"

"H-Hey!" I shouted at her.

"What? It's true!"

"Ah, b-but...!" I grumbled, "So what if it is?"

"I wouldn't mind," Rise said to me, "since I get a lot of shoots done. Buuuut, this is for everyone, so I'll have to get Naoto-kun to take photos of us. _If _he doesn't mind, that is." This last part was directed towards the pint-sized detective himself.

Naoto looked up at her with a 'no-care' attitude, but took the camera from her anyways. "If you wish me of it, I may as well."

"Thanks!" Rise turned back around and walked over to one side of the net. On the other side, the other guys were huddled together and talking about something that I couldn't hear, but from the determination in their eyes I figured they wanted to win _badly_. They broke apart with a shout and got into a square formation: Souji in the upper right, Yosuke in front of him, Kanji beside him, and Teddie in the back left. On the girl's side, Nanako was up in front of Yosuke, Chie was right next to her, Rise was behind her, and Yukiko was behind Nanako.

The ball was in the latter's hands, and it was being thrown up in the air a bit. "Everyone ready?" Yukiko cried out to everyone. There were yells of confirmation and, with a nod, Yukiko threw the ball into the air and hit it towards Teddie.

A flash from the camera besides me was enough from him to get distracted and miss the ball entirely. As the guys berated him for missing, I turned to my right to see Naoto smirking a little. "Nice timing," I said with a chuckle. Naoto turned his head to me, a little surprised that I spoke, but he himself let out a small laugh. "Also, can I ask something?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"This is the beach. There's no need for you to have your shirt on, is there?"

_...Wait, why is he blushing like that?_ It quickly disappeared when he shook his head, though. "Ah, I just don't find any need to do so. And, I burn easily under the sun, so there's no need."

"Well, you may wind up getting it sandy when you play."

"I don't plan to be leaping for the ball anytime soon, thank you."

"Haha, if you say so."

Yukiko went for a serve again, and Teddie managed to hit it back this time. It flew up into the air and was shot back up by Yosuke. Kanji quickly took this opportunity and spiked it _really_ hard into the sand.

And thank _GOD_ it missed Nanako by those few inches.

"What the hell are you trying to do!" Chie screeched at the bleached-blonde haired boy. She hugged Nanako close to her, but the little girl didn't really seem to startled by the ball slamming right next to her.

"I-I didn't mean to!" Kanji yelled, waving his hands in front of him defensively. "It-It was just instinct that made me hit it so hard!"

"And so you aim at a little girl?" Chie shouted.

Ignoring them, Naoto chose this time to take another photo. Another question formed in my head. "Naoto, how old are you?"

He blinked and turned to me. "And... you would like to know this why?"

"Just curious. I was wondering if you were the same age as me."

"Ah, I see." He turned back to the others - _Ouch, getting smashed in the face with the volleyball looks painful, Yosuke-senpai... And good job, Naoto, for taking a picture of that._ "As of now, I am sixteen years old."

"Sixteen, huh? So you're a second-year?"

"Hm? No, I'm still in my first year of high school."

"Oh, really! My mistake then."

"Mm. My birthday's on April 27th, so I _am_ older than most people in my grade."

"Despite that, you're still in the same grade as I am."

"I am?" He took another shot and turned back to me.

_You know, without his cap he _does_ look kind of feminine... Gah, what am I thinking? _"Yep. The same with Rise-chan and Kanji. In fact, the three of us are in the same homeroom... And I think Souji-senpai's in the same homeroom with the others, too..."

"And how about... What was his name, Teddie?"

"Ah, yeah." _Oh shit, he doesn't go to school._ "He's, uh, special. He's, um... h-home schooled."

He must've caught my stuttering, because he hesitated for a moment. But he just chose to forget about this and turned back to the others. This time Kanji served the ball, but Chie managed to hit it back up in the air for Rise to hit it over the net. Souji flipped it upwards and behind him as Yosuke hit it back forwards. The silver-haired second-year jumped up really high and hit the ball hard down into the sand.

"Another question."

"Do you enjoy asking them?"

"Kind of, aheh. Um, I don't mean to pry, but yesterday on the phone you said that you supposed you could take a break from something. W-What was that?"

Naoto didn't respond at first, opting to take another photo for the camera. "To be honest, the case still troubles me."

"Th-The case?"

"Yes. To me, some things don't quite add up, so I am looking into it further."

"A-Ah. I see."

"Ever since Mitsuo Kubo had been arrested, I've had a feeling that something was not right, so now I've been examining it from every possible angle."

"And... anything yet?"

Another picture taken. "No, not yet."

"Oh..."

"Alright, we win!" Teddie suddenly cried and jumped for joy.

"Yeah, just barely," Yosuke sighed. "No thanks to you missing the ball _again_. You can't get so distracted, man, even if there were hot girls walking by."

"I can't help it!" the human-bear-thing whined.

"Well, whatever," Souji said, stopping their bickering. "We won anyways, so there's no need for anymore complaining."

"What? You have no right to say that!" Yosuke shot back at him. "You were looking at those girls, too!"

"Uh-"

"So, what does that mean?" I asked, standing up from my spot. "Are we playing another round, or are we stopping?"

"Oh, no we're not!" Rise was suddenly by my side.

"WHA! W-When you'd get there?"

"Just then. Anyways, you two," she pointed at Naoto and I, "are still playing, but this time we'll have teams of two."

"Two?" Naoto repeated.

"Yeah. Andrew-kun, you're on my team, and Naoto-kun can go wiiiiiith..." She glanced at everyone, but cupper her hands over her mouth. "_HEY, __KANJI!_"

"W-Wha!" The big guy was not expecting a shout, and quite frankly, neither was I.

"You're playing with us again!" Rise yelled at him.

"H-Huh? But I just played!"

"Doesn't matter! You're with Naoto-kun!"

"I'm with-!"

Without letting him finish, Rise quickly walked over to Naoto, took her camera back with a 'thank you', and quickly strode over to Souji. "Senpai, take some pictures of us!"

"Hm? Oh, sure thing," Souji replied with a smile.

He took the camera from the redhead, and she ran back over to me, grabbed my arm and dragged me over to one side of the net. "You know," I said calmly. "There's no real need to drag me everywhere."

"But I like doing it," Rise said innocently, although it was probably faked.

I sighed, except I knew this was a fake one. "Fine, alright."

"Okay then!" She pumped both hands in the air. "We have to win this!" She suddenly leaned in closer to my face. "If we do win, you'll get the biggest kiss you've _ever _gotten from me."

I wrapped my mind around the reward, and turned my gaze towards Kanji and Naoto. "You two are going _**DOWN!**_"

Our opponents were baffled by my outburst, but got ready anyways. Rise walked right up to the net and picked up the volleyball. She threw it straight towards me and I caught it without a word. I nodded to Kanji, who was at the far end of his and Naoto's side, and when he nodded back I tossed the ball in the air and hit it over the net. Kanji quickly put his hands over his face and pushed the ball into the air, causing it to go overhead towards Naoto. He did the same thing, making it fly towards but not at the net, and without wasting a second Kanji leapt up and spiked the ball rather hard.

"It's mine!" I yelled as I dove for the ball and managed to hit it back upwards. I wound up getting my face, hair, and trousers filled with sand, but that didn't stop me. I _was_ getting that kiss, dammit.

"Nice one!" Rise shouted. With the perfect timing and precision, she jumped up and slammed the ball into the sand, going right past Naoto as he, too, jumped to block it. "YES! Score one for the Lovers' team!"

"Lovers?" I repeated as I stood back up and shook the sand out of my hair (and my shorts). "Since when did we come up with _that_ name? And _why_ that name, anyways?"

"Since just then. And because of us."

"...Oh, right, of course." Rise grinned with a giggle, but out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the blue-haired detective frown slightly. However, he just turned around and went back to his spot. He picked the ball back up and rolled it underneath the net. I caught it and asked, "Hey, how much are we playing to, anyways?"

"Six," Rise answered.

"Oh, okay." _We are so going to win. We HAVE to win._

* * *

And we did. It was a close call, with the game ending at six to five for Rise and I. We were all exhausted, but especially my classmates since they played two games in a row. Kanji and Naoto made a surprisingly good team, with the former always being chosen to spike the ball right to us. I got nailed in the head once, but no serious damage was taken.

And my reward?

"I was only kidding about that," Rise said nonchalantly, with a hint of amusement. "I just wanted to win, and I needed you to do your best."

"And so you tricked me."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"I see."

I was having none of that. And so, without giving any warning, I scooped her up into my arms and charged for the sea. "H-Hey, what're you doing!" Doing my best to ignore the fact that I was touching her bare skin, I continued to rush for the shore. The moment my foot hit the sea I stopped and threw her into the water. She screamed in shock as she flapped her arms to try to stop herself from hitting it, but it failed and she went in anyway. After a few seconds her head emerged from the water. She shook it to get it out of her eyes and glared at me. "What was _that_ for!"

"Revenge!" I shouted back to her, a big grin plastered on my face. "I'm getting you back for earlier! ...Aaaaand because you didn't kiss me."

"But I'm all wet and cold again!"

"So? We were bound to go back in there, anyways!"

"But I didn't want to go back in _now_!"

"Then come on out again! You don't need to _stay in there_, y'know!"

Her mouth was opened to retaliate, buuuut she realized this was true. She sighed and swam back to the shore, and when she stood up she jumped in front of me and shook her head. This caused her hair to be flung from side to side, which made the salt water fly from it and onto me. And since there was a lot of hair on her head, there was a lot of water landing on me.

"A-AH! HEY, HEY, THAT STUFF'S COLD!" I attempted to block the water from hitting _anywhere _on my body, but my arms weren't very good shields. I mean, they weren't long enough for one thing.

"I know! That's why I'm doing this!"

My arm shot out and I grasped her head to stop her. "Great," I moaned as I looked over my drenched (and _manly_) body. "Now I need to dry off again."

"Well so do I," Rise said without trying to look up. We were just standing there with my hand holding her head and she bent over like that for a couple of seconds. I was sure we were getting stared at, and so did she, because she forced my hand away from her skull and stood up straight. "Let's go back and dry off."

"Yeah, I guess." I turned around and started walking back, but before I could get anywhere I felt a hand wrap itself around mine. I glanced behind me to see Rise smiling cutely at me, and the only thing I could do was smile back aw her. _Damn her and her cuteness abilities._

* * *

**~12:30 PM~**

It was around then that we decided to have our packed lunches. Yukiko had once again brought food for all of us to enjoy, but because she wasn't expecting Naoto to come there wasn't enough for everyone. I decided to take it upon myself to give the little guy my lunch and go buy something for myself. Naoto was a little hesitant to take my lunch but I practically forced it to him, saying that I wanted a hot dog and some soda instead of Japanese food and 'Quelorie Magic'.

"Which kind of drink do you want again?" Rise asked me as I ordered a hot dog.

"I'm surprised you remembered the bet," I said jokingly while paying the money.

"Yeah, well, you probably would've whined about it if I didn't."

"Ha, yeah right! ...Well, um, honestly, I probably would've. Uhhhmm, root beer, please and thank you."

"Alrighty then." She handed her 500 yen coin to the cashier and ordered a root beer for me. "So, was this a good idea or what?"

"Was what was a good idea?" I asked as I glanced down to her.

"Bringing everyone here I mean. 'Cept Adachi-san, 'cause he just appeared out of nowhere..."

"Oh, right. Yeah, this _was _a good idea. And also, Adachi-sand just up and vanished... I wonder what happened to him?"

"Ah well, no use worrying about him," Rise said. "He's a police officer, he can take care of himself."

"I highly doubt that. The guy's like a rookie if you ask me."

"Really? ...Hey, now that I think about it, he did seem kind of odd that one day..."

"What one day?"

"Oh, the day after you, Ted and I went to Aiya. You know how I was running the tofu shop the whole day? Well, sometime after supper Adachi-san showed up and started talking to me. Can't really remember what about... But for some reason, when he saw my grandma walk in he just left."

"Seriously?" I asked as my hot dog and root beer were placed in front of me. "Thanks," I said to the guy. I picked up my stuff and walked back to the others with Rise in tow. "But that's weird. Talking to you randomly and just leaving without buying anything..."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too. He seemed as goofy as always, but..." She shook her head slightly, "Nah, let's not think about this. It's probably nothing." And without warning my root beer was suddenly snatched away from me.

"What the- H-HEY!" Rise ran straight for the others with my drink raised in the air, as if a symbol for the victory of taking it from me. Gripping my hot dog tighter so I wouldn't drop it, I chased after her.

* * *

After finishing our meals, the girls minus Nanako declared they were going to get a tan, which left us men (and Nanako) to do whatever the hell we wanted. Though this left me with a tough choice on what I actually _wanted_ to do. Of course, Naoto was staying up here anyways since he couldn't swim (although something in my brain was telling me that he was just lying), and the others decided to go do whatever they wanted: Souji and Nanako chose to go for a walk, while Teddie declared that he was going on a mission called 'Operation Babe Hunt' or something, and dragged Yosuke and Kanji along with him.

I began to wander off on my own, and was a nice ways from our spot when suddenly Rise popped up behind me. "Hey, weren't you just in the chair back there?" I asked her when I turned around.

"I hopped out of it and followed you," she said.

"And I thought you wanted to get a tan?"

"Yeah, but I can get one anytime. Besides, I... _guess... _I still owe you something."

"What? That fake 'big kiss?'"

"It's not fake anymore," she said with a playful smile. I blinked at this, but then dawned a big grin. "Let's go somewhere else, though. I find it... kinda embarrassing to just do it out in the open."

I glanced around to everyone present on the beach. I also picked up Souji and Nanako walking along the shore, picking up seashells and pointing out crabs, as well as the other three guys awkwardly talking to some girls, maybe around our age, but they simply got shot down. "Y-Yeah, you're right..."

"Over there." Rise pointed to a rather big rock on the other side of the beach. "That should have some cover for us."

"You're making it sound like we're gonna do... uh, something else."

"Trust me, _we're not_."

"Wha... What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing~" She swirled around me and started to walk on ahead of me at a faster pace. I quickened my own to catch up with her, and in no time we were at that giant rock. It was actually rather big, at least as tall as a building - maybe the school, or the inn, or even Junes. There was also this little pathway that led to a sort of cave-like alcove that went in the rock a little.

I also figured that his was a common place for couples, since there were actually two rocks that looked good for sitting on right next to each other.

"Careful," Rise advised. "The path looks a bit slippery."

"Ah, okay." After cautiously making our way across the trail, Rise took my hand and led me towards the rocks. She sat down on the left one as I took the right, and then... we just sat there, not doing anything. "Um-"

"A-Actually... I wanted to ask you something."

"Huh?" All of a sudden, Rise's demeanour changed from her usual perky self to dead serious. "W-What?"

She looked me right in the eyes. "What's the reason... why you're going out with me?"

"What's the reason...?" I hadn't been expected her to become so downbeat in a moment's notice, let alone ask a question like that. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"I mean..." She swallowed. "Are you only with me for Risette? Or... for me, Rise?"

"Wh..." I was dumbfounded. "W-Why're you asking this...?"

"Just answer the question."

"U-Uh... F-For you, Rise, obviously."

"..." For whatever reason, she didn't seem that convinced. "You're... not lying, are you?"

"No, of course not...! W... Why, though? Why ask this?"

"Because..." She glanced to the side uncomfortably. "I had figured that the only reason why people would want to get with me was because of Risette... and that I was just some airhead who didn't know up from down, and..." She trailed off.

"...You mean... B-Because you might've been... u-uh... mm..."

"Say it."

"...E-Easy?"

"...Yeah."

"Well... I don't think that way at all!" She was slightly startled by my outburst, but I calmed myself down and continued. "I don't think of you as being a ditz or anything like that. To me, you're kind and... and sweet, and..." _DAMMIT I CANNOT FIND THE WORDS._ I took a breath and tried for something else. "The first time we met, I hardly knew anything about you. It was only when Yosuke-senpai recommended your songs to me that I actually found out about you. I... decided to look up a bit about you using the library's computers, and... there were some things there that I'd rather not mention. But... I knew from our first meeting in that dream-realm that you weren't what the media called you. You weren't scatterbrained or anything like that; you acted just as how anyone else would've, given the situation. And all throughout our time spent together after that, you proved that you were more than what everyone was saying. You were helpful and funny and caring - no, you still _are_." I took another deep breath. "I can only go by what the media says about you, but... I know the Rise sitting before me is _nothing _like what they say."

Rise just stared at me, either in amazement or bewilderment. Or maybe both. But before long she stood up, walked to me and wrapped her arms around me. Of course, the rocks were a little high, so her face came right up to mine. "Andrew-kun..." Without saying anything, I put my arms around her as well. "Thank you... so much..." She had started to cry. _Geez, there's a lot of things she's cried over during the passed few weeks..._

"H-Hey..." I said, patting her back. I was about to tell her to not cry, but I had figured that this was something she'd been keeping held in for a little while. "Just... cry it all out..."

She took that as a cue to drop down onto me legs and sob her little heart out. _She must've been thinking about that for all this time... Poor girl..._ I held her close to me as I did my best to not cry as well (hey, it's contagious). Her tears were starting to drip down my shoulder, but at the moment I didn't care. We simply sat there, each other in our arms, for at least a good ten minutes. After that, Rise's tears had stopped flowing, and she pushed herself away from me and looked into my eyes. Without a word, she leaned over and placed her lips on mine.

Despite it not being for that long, I knew that it was the best one I've ever had.

"I love you," she told me before nestling into my chest.

I smiled softly and pulled her closer. "I love you, too."

**At this point, Rise has come to terms with herself and that there's "no real her," but she still has yet to realize that 'Risette' is also herself. Just in case someone was thinking that.**

**And SO. Another chapter done. Now, if you need me, I'll be asleep, so please review or something!**


	23. Hitting the Beach: Part 2

**I got a cold. A-choo. Now you have it. Enjoy.**

**Reviews a-GaGa! I mean, a-go-go!**

**anon:** Adachi is an evil character, but I liked him when he was a goofball. I think a lot of people did. And no, their powers won't work in the outside world. Sorry!

**Jharoz:** KOROMARU YES. Finally I got another dog: a guard dog, no less! And I will make sure Shinji gets a cooking show (in Heaven, God bless his soul). And the update after _that_... I get a Persona for myself! :D

**Windmarkd10:** When someone gets all serious like that, you've got to be honest with them, right? And I'm sure everyone knows why Adachi was staring at Rise. Everyone except Andy, of course.

**P4anonman:** It must've taken a lot of time to read the full thing thus far. I congratulate you for sticking through with it.

**...I don't know what to say for this part.**

**Disclaimer: Andy's mine. But you should know this already. And P4's Atlus's. _That_ should be news to you.**

* * *

**~August 7th~**

**~Sunday~**

**~1:00 PM~**

* * *

And that's when I remembered we were still three-fourths naked.

And that's when I realized Rise was still right in my arms.

Needless to say my face started to burn.

_OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD MY FACE FEELS HOT MY HEART'S BEATING FASTER WHAT THE FRELL DO I DO WHAT THE __**FRELL**__ DO I DO._

"Hey, you okay?" Rise suddenly asked without looking up at me.

"I-I-I'm fine! Totally fine!" I lied. I was _not_ fine.

"I can hear your heart beating faster..."

"...Oh." I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. _This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I must savour this. DON'T blow it._ After one more final breath I was completely back to normal, and I squeezed the girl in my arms tighter. "I'm fine, honest."

"Are... you sure?" She chose then to look me up in my eyes, with curiosity and worry in her own. "If there's something you want to tell me, then tell me."

"No, no, everything's fine."

"But-"

I silenced her with a kiss of my own. She seemed rather surprised by the odd-from-me interruption, but she quickly returned it, this one much fiercer than before. She also decided to push her weight onto me, which forced me to lie down on the rock. My head clonked off of the top of it, but I was given no time to wince or whine or whatever since Rise lid down on top of me. _Oh wow her breasts are on my chest again. I pray that we don't have to move for another few days. Or months. ... ...Years?_

"Hey," she said simply.

"Yo," was my simple reply.

"Let's not leave this spot for a bit, yeah?"

"Exactly what I was thinking."

And so we just lid there for what seemed like a very long while, although during which there was a... semi-awkward statement said before going into a more conversation-like conversation.

"You know I can feel _that_, right?"

"Uhh... y-yeah."

"Hmhm. Okay."

"Y... You don't, um... mind?"

"Mmm... No, not really."

"...You're weird, you know that?"

"So I've been told. By you, actually."

"Really? When was that?"

"I dunno."

"Then how do you know I said that?"

"I can just remember. Don't know _when_ exactly."

"Riiiight."

"Hey, you think the others are looking for us?"

"Probably, but I hope not."

"Yeah. They'd only ruin the mood."

"Mhm... H-Hey, um, how long have you been meaning to ask that, anyway?"

"...Not very long. Maybe a couple of days...?"

"Then why didn't you ask sooner?"

"Because... I was afraid of the answer."

"You... were?"

"Yeah... I was afraid that you were only going out with me for... m-my body..."

"...Rise-chan, I would never go out with someone just for their body. I love you... for you. S-Sure, you truly do look amazing - and the swimsuit's not really helping, by the way - but I care more for what a person is like on the inside." _Of course, that person's body comes __**RIGHT**__ after._

She was silent for a moment, but then she raised her head to look at me. "You really will make a girl happy in the future, won't you?"

"What do you mean?"

A giggle escaped her lips. "Nothing." She lid back down again, this time with her arms wrapped around my neck.

"Ooookay... M-My turn to ask something now." Something that's been on my mind for a rather long time (actually just a few minutes).

"What?"

"...W-Why'd you choose me?"

"...Isn't this the same thing I asked?"

"No. I'm asking why me, specifically, when you can practically have anyone you want?"

"...I guess... it's because I started to develop feelings for you... after all the times we've spent together. I mean, you're right in saying that I could have anyone I want..."

"..."

"..."

"...And?"

"And... I do have someone that I want. You."

"...Wow, that was kinda sorta sappy."

"Shut up! I mean it!"

"Heheh... I know you do."

Silence between us.

"...Hey. I have another question."

"Shoot."

"Have you ever been in a relationship with any other girl before?"

"Nope. You're my first girlfriend." _I'm also hoping that you'll be my only, too._

"I am? Well then, allow me to be the first to tell you you're doing a wonderful job as a boyfriend."

"You really think I am? I don't think I've been doing anything that spectacular..."

"Trust me, you have been."

"Well the same goes for you, too."

"And you're only saying that because I said it to you."

"I'm being honest!"

"Suuuure you are."

"I am-!"

A kiss from her shut me up.

"Stop talking."

"...'Kay."

* * *

I'm pretty sure we just laid there in each other's arms for a good half hour, and it was the best half hour of my short life. Rise, however, decided that we should get back to the others. She got off of me and pulled a reluctant me up.

"We've been here long enough," she answered my unasked question.

"Aww... Do we really have to go?" I asked with actual sadness.

She sighed and said, "Yeah... The others are probably wondering where we are, and plus..." She rubbed a hand over her stomach. "I was starting to get a little sweaty..."

_...Oh. I, uh, see._ "Ah, y-yeah, me too..." I idly wiped the sweat off of my own gut.

"C'mon, let's go." Rise began to walk back up the path as I reluctantly followed. Before we could turn the corner, though, the girl ahead of me put a hand to my chest and made me stop. "Wait," she whispered.

"Hm? What?" I quietly responded.

"Did you just hear something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Someone kicking a rock or something."

"I didn't here anything... It's probably just the others looking for us."

She looked back at me with an odd look, one that showed her disapproval of my quick reasoning. She didn't say anything, though, and simply walked on ahead. I raised an eyebrow at this, but chose to ignore it and follow her back onto the beach. _Aw GEEZ that sun is bright! How long were we in there?_

As soon as we stepped into the light, my girlfriend stopped in her tracks. I accidentally bumped into her, and when I looked I saw Naoto standing on the pathway with his back facing us.

"Oh, N-Naoto," I said, a bit surprised to see him. "How long were you there?"

He didn't turn to us to answer. "Not long. I've been sent by the others to try to find you two. Apparently we're about to have a sandcastle-building contest, and they insisted that you both be part of it."

"Ooh, really? I love making sandcastles!" Rise exclaimed with glee. "C'mon, let's hurry before they start without us!" And she promptly ran off back towards our chairs, leaving her boyfriend and their detective friend to eat her dust. Or sand. Whatever.

The two of us just watched her run (and unintentionally trip over a tanning woman) before I turned my head to Naoto. "You were here longer than 'not long,' weren't you?"

The blue-haired boy was still facing away from me. "...Was it that easy to figure out?"

"Actually... I just guessed. Wasn't sure if you were or not."

"...Hm. I see."

"..." _He sounds... mildly depressed about something. Although it's hard to get a clear reading of him, so it could be nothing... Or... Maybe he overheard Rise-chan and I earlier...?_

"Anyways," Naoto snapped me from my thoughts. "Let's be on our way." He started to walk back without waiting for me to answer.

"Oh, right!"

* * *

"Okay, here are the teams!" was what I heard when Naoto and I got back to our spot on the beach. Rise was standing before everyone else with a fist on her hip and a hand holding onto the megaphone she seemingly got from nowhere. I glanced over to the others and noticed- _Whoa, Ted got bitch slapped. A few hundred times._ "Andrew-kun and I are on a team-" _Obviously._ "-Naoto-kun and Kanji-" _Again? Huh, I wonder why. Hey, wait, why's Kanji so flustered?_ "-Souji-senpai and Yukiko-senpai-" _This should make him happy. Maybe._ "-Yosuke-senpai and Chie-senpai-" _C'mon look at me look at me. Oh he's looking at me, time to give him a big grin. Oh hey, that's a bad word, even if you just mouth it, Yosuke._ "-and Nanako-chan and Teddie!"

"What kind of teams are _those_?" Chie immediately asked. _Is her face red? I think her face is red._

"Teams... I came up with?" Rise answered with a raised brow. "Why? What's wrong with them?"

"What's wrong? We didn't get to pick them, that's what's wrong with them!"

"Um-"

"Here're the _real_ teams: Yukiko and me, Yosuke and Teddie, and Souji-kun and Nanako-chan. You can stay with Andrew-kun, and Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun are still together. Got that?"

_Oooh Yosuke's got disappointment in his eyes. Oh, he's looking at me again whooooa, senpai, that's an even harsher word._

"Mmm..." Rise groaned and drooped her shoulders. "But you and Yosuke-senpai look really cute together..."

"WHA-! No we don't!"

"You totally do!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"_No_!"

"_Yes_!"

And so on and so forth.

* * *

About five minutes of arguing over whether or not Chie and Yosuke looked cute together later - _...Why the hell would they argue over that for five minutes? I mean, all they were saying was 'Yes' and 'No' over and over again..._ - Rise finally gave in and allowed Chie to be paired with Yukiko. I didn't really care since I was still with my girlfriend, but Yosuke looked less than happy. And now that I'm looking, so does Souji. And strangely, Teddie did, too. _But he was partnered with Nanako-chan... Oh God, Pedobear!_

After pushing those lewd thoughts away, we all got with our respective partners and formed a line down near the ocean, but not too close so the waves wouldn't ruin our work.

"Oh, right, I've got a question," Souji suddenly spoke, gaining the attention of everyone. "Uh, who's gonna judge the castles when we're finished?"

Dead. Silence.

It was obvious no one even thought to think about it.

"Maybe... Adachi-san?" Yukiko asked. "Whenever he comes back?"

"Hm, yeah, he should do," Rise nodded. "We'll just have to make sure the castles stay up until he does."

"Okay, so how long do we have to make them?"

"Um... Fifteen minutes. And the moment it's up you have to drop what you're doing and leave it like that."

"Hey, wait a minute," Yosuke asked with irritation in his voice. "Since when were you the one who makes the rules? You weren't even here when we decided to _have_ this competition in the first place!"

"Well someone has to take authority over you guys!" Rise told him. "And it should obviously be me, since I'm the most mature person here!"

"I can honestly think of a lot more mature people than you..." I whispered under my breath, which was thankfully not heard by her.

"But enough dilly-dallying," she shouted before Yosuke could counter. She flipped open her phone -_ Where the heck did she get that?-_ and must've started a timer, because she quickly said, "We're starting _now_!" The redhead then swiftly dropped to her knees and started scooping sand into our little pail. The others also fell to their knees and shovelled as fast as they could, all the while whispering to themselves what they would make.

"So what're we going to do?" I asked her.

"Hmm... We need it to be the best castle ever, soooo it needs to be really big."

"Then that may take a while..."

"Not if we both work together. Now, c'mon! Pick up the pace, you're too slow!"

"Wha- I just started, dammit!"

* * *

**~1:50 PM~**

True to her words, Rise's phone set off an alarm after fifteen minutes had transpired. The moment it did, everyone's little shovels and pails dropped to the sand and they all stood up with a sigh of exhaustion.

Every castle was different in their own way. Rise's and mine _was _rather tall - almost coming up to my stomach - but it wasn't really fancy-looking. There were some towers that bent awkwardly and the walls had holes in them. It looked more like an underwater castle made of the eroded rocks found there, but it didn't seem like we'd be able to win with it.

Souji's and Nanako's wasn't that big, probably because Nanako was so small and wouldn't have been able to reach the top of it. There weren't a lot of tall structures, but there were a nice few designs on it, like the seashells they picked up earlier. _Sorry Nanako-chan, but I don't think you'll win with that..._

Chie's and Yukiko's... actually wasn't a castle. In fact, it looked more like the Amagi Inn. It was almost a perfect scale model, and they even decided to put in a miniature hot springs. _That's not even a castle! You can't win with an inn in a sand **castle **competition!_

Yosuke and Teddie... actually didn't have anything. Their castle _was _showing signs of being decent, but it somehow got crushed by two children and a dog. And when they tried to make one long tower sticking up from the ground - _Compensating for something, guys?_ - it got severed by a flying frisbee. _Must __**not **__think about that too much._

Kanji's and Naoto's, on the other hand...

"Dude!" I exclaimed as I looked at it. "That's... _awesome_!"

"Amazing...!" Yukiko said in awe. "It's like... an actual castle!"

"How'd you guys manage to make it like that?" Teddie asked with impressed eyes. "It's all life-like!"

Indeed it was. It wasn't exactly tall, but the sheer amount of detail put into it was astounding. They actually bothered to outline the bricks in the walls, as well as having tiny flags on top of the numerous towers that it had. There was even a moat going around it, with _actual water in it._ I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to make an inside to the whole thing.

"Wasn't really hard..." Kanji admitted a bit embarrassedly. "I just did what I normally do..."

"You also did most of the work..." Naoto sheepishly whispered.

"I... don't think we need a judge for this now," Rise commented. She walked around the castle and inspected every last inch of it. "Kanji's and Naoto-kun's castle obviously win by a mile!"

Everyone clapped and cheered for the two guys. Kanji seemed rather delighted, but Naoto still had a look of indifference. "S-So, what do we win?" the big guy asked Rise.

"Nothing," she cheerfully replied. "It was just for fun."

That look on his face. Priceless.

* * *

After that, Teddie asked if we could use Kanji's surf board out on the ocean. Souji, who would be our instructor, would've agreed, but he pointed out that it wasn't windy enough for giant waves to role in, so surfing was out of the question. So instead of teaching us how to surf, he decided to go over to that rock Rise and I were at by himself and-

"Fishing?" I questioned as he readied his gear. _How the hell was I not able to notice him with it on the train?_ "Will you even be able to catch anything this close to the shore?"

"I'm not expecting anything big," Souji replied as he lifted up the box with his bait in it. "Just something to have for a small meal."

"And you're planning on _keeping_ the fish you catch?"

"Yeah...? What's wrong with that?"

I sighed. He clearly didn't care what happened to the poor little critters. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong with that. Go on, go catch the fish."

"Uhh... Okay then. See you later."

I watched our former leader walk away with his fishing rod slung over his shoulder, and turned back to the rest of the group. Rise, Chie, Yukiko and Nanako were talking amongst each other - about what I don't know - and the same thing with the dudes, besides Naoto, who was once again back sitting in his chair.

I sighed at this and walked over to him. "Do you not like socializing or something?"

The detective hadn't deduced that I was there as he looked up at me in shock. "A-Ah...What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're all here at the beach and you don't even bother to hang out with the rest of the guys. You'd just rather sit in that chair all day instead of doing something."

He let out a breath. "I suppose that's true. There's just something that's been on my mind, is all."

_The case...? I hope not._ "If I may ask, what is it?"

"It's... personal. Something that I'd rather not openly discuss."

"Oh..." _Whew. Not the case._ "If you say so, then..."

"May I ask something?"

"Um, sure thing."

"What's your exact relationship with Rise-san?"

"My relationship...?" _Odd thing to ask. ...Unless..._ "U-Uh... She's my girlfriend..."

"...I see."

"Why?"

"Nothing. Please forget that I asked anything."

"O... Okay..."

"Hey, Andrew!" I turned my head around to see Yosuke, Kanji and Teddie all looking at me. "We're going for a swim again!" the second-year told me." You wanna come with us?"

"Ah, sure thing!" I turned back to Naoto. "Did you wanna... Oh, right. Well, see ya later."

"Mm," he responded with a nod.

* * *

"Hey, Ted, do you even know _how_ to swim?" Kanji asked the bear as we stepped into the water again.

"Not really," the blondie replied. "I can float and stuff, but I can't swim out far."

"Then you need practice," Yosuke nodded. "Kanji, show him the ropes."

"Huh? Why me?"

"'Cause you brought it up. Now go."

"Wha- I don't have to do what you say!" Kanji turned to me. "Yo, Andrew, you teach 'im."

"Nuh-uh, no way dude. I'm not a good teacher." Kinda sorta not true. "Senpai, you suggested he practice, so _you_ teach him."

"Ohhh no, I'm not a swimming instructor. Kanji-"

"I already said no! Andrew-"

"No. Senpai-"

"Alright, shut up!" Teddie quickly stopped our 'debate' with a loud shout. "Even if you guys wanted to help me, I wouldn't let you!"

"Huh? Why not?" I asked him.

"Obviously, I'd have to have one of the girls help me!"

"One of the girls? ...Oh, shit, no, Rise's rubbing off on him!" Kanji yelled.

"Actually, that's normal for him." I went unheard.

"We aren't having another one around! I'm gonna teach ya to swim, whether you want to or not!"

"What!" Teddie cried out. Kanji grabbed onto the guy's arm and started dragging him away deeper into the ocean. "N-Nooooooo...!"

"...Well I hope those two have fun." I turned back towards Yosuke. "Wanna have a race or somethin'?"

"Bah, sure, why not?" Yosuke shrugged his shoulders and walked beside me. "Better than just standing around I guess."

"Be on your guard, though. The tide could sweep anything out, so you gotta be careful."

"I'll be fine! I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

Yosuke lost his trunks somehow. Funny times.

"Maybe I should get Chie-senpai down here and-"

"_**NO!**_"

* * *

After our swim I decided to allow the sun to dry me off. I thankfully remembered to put on another layer of sun block, and as I was rubbing it on my arms Rise came over to me.

"Hey, don't you already have some of that on?" she asked, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah, but I want to make absolute sure that I won't burn."

"You haven't been burnt yet, have you?"

"True, but now I'm going to be directly under the sun for a little bit."

"Why?"

"Drying off."

"Ah. Well, then, mind if I help?"

Eyes wide. "H-Huh?"

"...I asked, do you mind if I help put sun block on your back? You probably won't be able to reach it..."

"I'll be _lying _on my back. I won't need sun block on it."

"But you'll need to turn over eventually, right?"

"I plan on falling asleep. On my back."

"But if you fall asleep, you won't be able to turn over when you _need_ to."

"I'll get you to do that."

"...Geez... Do you want me rubbing my hands over you or not?"

"...Yes please."

The girl grinned at me giving in, and I squirted some of the white stuff into her hands. _Oh, geez, that looks suggestive._

_**'Get your mind out of the gutter.'**_

_...Fine._

"Thank you," she thanked me, and scooted over behind me.

"Why are you so dead set on doing this?" I asked, although inwardly I was thanking the Lord a million times over.

"No specific reason." She smeared the sun block over her hands and then- _**OH SHIT THAT IS COLD!**_ My back arched in reaction to this, but it did little to stop the coldness. "What, is it cold?" she asked with a giggle.

"You could tell?" I responded with my own chuckle.

"It was easy to, yeah." The cold was only for a second, so I eased my back into its rightful position and allowed her to continue. _I must be the luckiest person in the world. I'm shocked no one's started beating me up yet..._ "I'm a little surprised, though."

"About what?"

"It actually took some effort to get you to let me do this. I had figured that you would've said 'yes' right away."

"Didn't seem like you put that much effort in."

"You were taking too long to cave, so I had to ask you directly."

"It wasn't that long."

"It was, dammit."

"You really are an impatient person, aren't you?"

"Is that a problem?"

"I didn't say it was."

"But you said it with annoyance."

"Doesn't mean it's a problem."

"Then what is it then?"

"Just a cute character trait."

She scoffed. "You think being impatient is cute?"

"Well impatience can lead to anger, which can lead to pouting, which is cute."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?"

"Couple days, maybe a week, max."

"Now _that's_ cute."

"Yeeeeah right."

"I'm being serious."

"...Hey, isn't it strange how we always wind up spouting sarcastic remarks to each other?"

"Not really. I guess it means that we're really connecting."

"Connecting? ...Huh."

"Oh, uh... Probably shouldn't've brought that up..."

"No, no, don't worry about it. After all that happened so far today I kinda forgot about it."

"Really? So did I."

And before I could say anything to that, I saw her arms wrap around my stomach. Which meant she scooted herself closer to my back. And her chest is pressed against me once again. Actually, her entire stomach was against me. "Um... Not complaining or anything, but why?"

"I need some more sun screen, too."

"Couldn't you take some from the bottle?"

"No. This way we're saving it."

"Huh. Practical."

"I know, right?"

"Oh, but you're not getting _your_ back."

"Then _you _rub it on me."

Face hot. "Uh-"

"No buts!"

"I never said 'but'!"

"You were going to. I knew you were."

_...DAMMIT SHE CAN READ ME LIKE A BOOK._

Rise unhooked her arms from around me (apparently hugging me for that short moment was enough to get the right amount of sun screen on her), took a towel from behind her - _Did she bring that with her? Or did she pull it out of thin air? Or am I not as attentive as I thought I was?_ - and laid it out flat. "Okay, your turn!" She lid down on her belly and then-

_**HOLY BASEBALL BATS SHE UNDID HER TOP. AND HOLY TABLETOP GAMES I THINK MY NOSE IS BLEEDING.**_

It was. A lot.

* * *

I was forced to run away like a little baby and grab some tissues in the bathroom. After a good five minutes of blowing out the excess blood, I returned to that spot (it was away from our stuff on the beach) to see Rise sitting up with her top tied back on. "Gah, sorry about that..."

"So, I can lie on top of you and press against your back, but you can't rub sun screen on me without that happening?" she asked with a hint of amusement.

"Apparently not. I guess... because you could just sit up and... ah..."

"I most definitely would _not_ sit up without my top tied on!"

"I know you wouldn't, it's just that even if you did...!"

"But still, that's how a girl gets sunscreen on her back. Plus, there'll be a tan line if it's left on, so it has to be undone."

"Ah, that's right... Forgot about tan lines... So, um, you still need it on your back?"

"I was waiting for you to ask," she giggled. She lid back down on the towel, "Just make sure you don't bleed again," and undid her top again.

_I can do this. I can do this. I can her bare back is sexy... DAMMIT FOCUS DAMMIT._ I squirted some sun screen into my hand and hesitantly rubbed it along her back.

She tensed her shoulders together when I touched her. "Ngh... 'S kinda cold..."

"I told ya, didn't I?" I chuckled. _I am __**THE**__ luckiest person ever to exist._

"The way you said it, it sounded like it was a bucket of ice on your back."

"Oh, did I?"

"Your chest came right out when I put my hand on your back. I only squeezed my shoulders together. I think it's easy to tell who's the bigger chicken."

"Hey, watch it. I'm able to snatch away that top right from under you, you know."

"Oh." She reached for one of the strings and pulled it out from underneath her. "I don't really need this _now_. As long as I have it whenever I'm ready to turn over."

_**OH GOD THE BLOOD IS BACK.**_

* * *

**~4:00 PM~**

After cleaning that up _again_, I got my own towel and laid it right beside Rise's. The reason for lying in the sun was to dry off, and admittedly I already was dry. But there was no way in hell that I'd miss a chance of falling asleep next to my girlfriend.

Of course, there's always that little chance of burning by having one side exposed to the sun for long enough, even with a lot sun screen on.

And burn I did.

"OW! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. ...Owwww."

"C-C'mon...! J-Just try and bear it..."

"A-Are you telling that to m-me or yourself?"

"B-Both of us!"

Rise was trying to help me up off the ground, and did I ever hurt. Which also meant that Rise was hurting as well. When the girl finally got me up, I happened to notice that she had a lovely tan on both sides of her body.

_**'Stop staring at her.'**_

_Shut up. I'm allowed to._

And me? Burnt on the front, perfectly normal on the back.

"Well, isn't this just swell?" I said sarcastically as I spun around for Rise to get a good look. "And stop laughing. This isn't funny."

"I-It totally is! Ahahahaha!"

I glared at the laughing girl, but with a sadistic (and possibly masochistic) grin, I slammed a palm onto my crisp chest.

It hurt like bloody hell, but at least it made her stop laughing.

And... start writhing in pain... _Oops_. "A-Ah, hey, are you-" I moved. Bad move. "Guh-!"

"OW!"

"S-Sorry!"

* * *

The sun hadn't set yet, but there was a noticeable difference in its positioning in the sky. There were also less people on the beach now, although there still enough to cover a good portion of it.

After slowly but surely walking and hurting to the shore, where everyone (including Naoto) was chatting with each other. They saw us coming and burst out laughing.

"Shut up!" I yelled at them, although even moving my jaw resulted in a flash of pain.

"D-Dude!" Yosuke (who somehow found his trunks again) bellowed. "W-What the hell h-happened to you!"

"Fell asleep..."

More laughter. Even Naoto was trying to hold back a chuckle of his own. I clenched my fists in embarrassment but could do nothing else.

"Putting that aside for now..." Souji said, despite having one final laugh escape him. "Is everyone ready to go?"

"Already?" Chie asked with surprise in her voice. "What time is it, anyways?"

"Quarter after four," Yukiko answered. "We've been here for well over four or five hours now. I think it's time we go back to Inaba now."

"Aww..." Teddie moaned, tucking his head into his knees. "Do we have to? Can't we stay for a little longer?"

"I wouldn't mind staying for a _bit_ longer, myself," Naoto added honestly.

"Yeah, can we, big bro?" Nanako asked him with a pleading look in her eyes. _How can anyone resist that?_

Contrary to the smile on his face, Souji let out an audible sigh. "_Hai, hai._ We can stay until five o'clock, but then we leave. Got that?"

"Yes sir!" Teddie yelled as he leapt on Souji to give him a great big bear hug, but never got the chance since the silver-haired second year put a fist up for the blondie to fly into.

"Alright then!" Rise announced. "I'll see you all later!"

"Huh? Where're you goin'?" Kanji asked her.

"Uhhh... Around." She faced me, turned me around and started pushing me back up the beach. "He's coming with me."

And when I did turn around, the lot of them started to laugh once again.

"Did really you have to turn me around like that?" I asked when we were out of their earshot.

"Yep. We have to go somewhere."

"And where's that?"

"Well, um, I have to go."

"Okay, where do _you_ have to go?"

"No no no. I have to _go_."

"...Oh."

"And you're coming with me."

"Hu-"

"Not _in_ with me. You're just coming to make sure no one comes up while I'm in there."

"So I'm your bodyguard then."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Alright, fine. But there's still no need to push me there."

"We gotta hurry, even if you're in pain."

"Aw, c'mon, I forgot about that. Now I'm hurting again."

"That's not how it works. You can't forget pain."

"Whatever."

* * *

So there I was, leaning against the wall to the small building that is the bathroom, waiting for my girlfriend to finish her little potty emergency. The few people walking by stared at me and my half-burnt body, but I did my best to ignore their snickers.

After a few more moments Rise exited the women's room and stretched. "Mm! I've been waiting to do that for a little while now."

"Then why didn't you go earlier?" I asked as I left the wall and stood beside her.

"You were asleep, so I couldn't."

_...She really is still afraid, isn't she?_

_**'It seems that way, yes.'**_

"You're... still scared of that, aren't you?"

Her smile fell and a look of depression covered her face. "Y-Yeah..." Then her smile returned, but to me it seemed a little forced. "B-But you're here with me, right? So it shouldn't be a problem!"

_And she's still depending on me..._ "Y... Yeah..." But in all honesty, I wasn't too sure. The last time I tried to save her, I wound up getting stabbed without doing anything to the guy. Without a cleaver, or Wyvern helping me, I'm basically nothing. "I'll make sure no one tries to hurt you again." But I also didn't want to see her sad. I'm willing to promise to protect her just to see her happy.

That forced smile quickly turned genuine, and she wrapped her- _OW OW OW PAAAAAAAAIN__**.**_

"O-Ow." She let go of me awkwardly. "Sorry..."

"N-No, don't worry about it," I told her, and grinned. "I've gotta toughen up, right? For you." And to do that, I put my own arms around her. _Ignore pain. Ignore it for her._ "S-See? Nothing to it."

"R... Right." Tentatively, she once again wrapped her arms around me. _Frickin' sun burn. Making her hurt, too._

"Are you okay?" I asked her when she winced.

"I'm... okay. This is nothing." She held me even tighter, yet there was a sudden grin plastered on her face.

"H-Hey, you're just doing that for fun, aren't you...?"

"Y-Yep!" _Ow. Ow ow ow. Ouuuuuuuch._

"Well stop. You're hurting yourself, aren't you?"

"Don't care. I'm hurting you, too, so it's fine."

"Stop it."

"No."

"Please?"

"...No."

"I don't find this very humorous."

"I do."

"How? You're only causing yourself pain, aren't you?"

"It's worth it if you are, too."

I hung my head back, sighed, and pushed her away from me. "Let's go do something else."

"Like what?" Rise asked in an fake-irritated tone.

I didn't know, really. So I looked around at the different kinds of stalls and stores that were along the beach, and after a second of looking my eyes landed on one store in particular. "Ice cream."

"Hm?"

"Let's go get ice cream."

"Mmm, I dunno..."

"On me."

"Okay!"

We started walking back towards the chairs to get my money and _DAMMIT I FORGOT THAT I HUUUURT._ "H-Hey, you go on without me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because it hurts to move too fast. If you go there now you can get the ice cream quicker."

"Alright, fine. But any change gets given back to me, I'm keeping it."

"Whatever. My wallets down in my bag."

"_Haaaai_."

She left, and after a few moments she returned with my wallet. "What kind did you want?"

"Chocolate, please. Or, no, mint chocolate chip."

"Alrighty, I'll be back."

"Hurry up now."

"No no, I think I'll take my time. Hopefully yours melts by the time I get back."

"Haha, _very _funny."

Rise only chuckled at that, and extracted 1000 yen from my wallet. She handed it the wallet to me, turned around and began to walk towards the ice cream store.

It was only when she passed another building that a hand shot out and pulled her out of my sight.

"What the-!" I shouted, but the panicking-pain kicked into high gear quickly. _Oh no... NO! No no no, not again! Not now!_ I pocketed my wallet (yes my trunks have pockets) and ran as fast as I could to wear she was. Yes, it hurt a very large amount, both my skin _and_ head, but I ignored it as best I could. The building wasn't far away from where I was, but when I rounded the corner there was no one there. _Of course there isn't, everyone on the beach would see._ I ran around to the back of the building, which was right up against a brick wall and-

"Stay _right_ where you are."

A gasp escaped me. Right in my line of sight was that same man from Okina City. He had an arm around Rise's head and held it over her mouth to keep her quiet. The girl had her arms up to that arm to try and get it away from her, but the guy was too strong for her to move it.

He also had the same things from last time - same hoodie, same gloves, handkerchief, and everything.

The only thing he had that was new was the gun pointing directly at me.

"Ha!" the man laughed, looking at my half-burnt body. "What the hell happened to _you_? You look frickin' ridiculous!"

"Who the hell are you?" I yelled whilst ignoring his laughing spree.

He let out a weird high pitched chuckle. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He repositioned the gun so that it was pointing right at my face. "Now then, you're gonna stay in that spot, and I'm gonna make a run for it. You follow me-" he moved the gun from me to Rise, and her eyes practically bulged out of her head when he did - "and you're little friend here will have a brand new hole in her head."

I gritted my teeth and glared at him. "You _bastard!_"

"What, you think I'll actually _stop_ if you say that?" he laughed maniacally. "Don't waste my time!" The gun came flying back towards me. "If you value your life, you won't move an inch. Or, if you'd rather, I can just shoot you now and get that out of the way!"

"Tch..." _Dammit, what the hell am I supposed to do! I move, he shoots either me or Rise-chan. I don't move, and he kidnaps her! Nothing plays into my favor! What do I-_

"OUCH!"

I snapped out of my thoughts to see that Rise actually bit down _hard_ onto the guy's hand. I think it was bleeding, even.

_**="Strike him, now!"=**_

_W... W-What in the...? Who-_

_**="No time to explain, save her!"=**_

I didn't need to be told twice (although I _was _told twice...). I pushed my leg off the sand and charged for the masked man. He was too focused on Rise to notice that I jumped into the air (not that high) and delivered a swift punch to his jaw. He was sent backwards and at the same time let go of Rise. She took no time to rush over to and behind me.

"Gah, that hurt..." The man immediately rose to his feet and wiped his mouth, although honestly, my punch didn't seem hard enough to draw any blood. "Huh... You shitheads think that's enough to stop me? Did you forget that I still have a _gun_?" Unfortunately for us, the gun was still in his hands, and he quickly brought it up and pointed it at me. "Good thing this is silenced, huh? Otherwise, everyone on the beach would hear. And to think, if you had just given her to me, you could've lived out the rest of your life. Oh well!" The gun clicked again. "_Too bad_."

_**="Move out of the way!"=**_

_Wh-Who the hell is this!_

_**="Do you want to live or die? MOVE!"=**_

Instinctively, I grabbed Rise's arm and threw her and myself onto the sand. The man fired a round as we were doing so, and it _**just**_ grazed the top of my head. _CLOSE! TOO CLOSE!_ Like he said, the gun was silenced, so there was hardly a sound to be heard from it, besides the fact that it hit the building directly behind me.

"Wha- How the hell did I miss!" the guy yelled. "Well, no matter!" He pointed the gun down to us, and as I pulled down Rise's and my own head (though that wouldn't have helped much), and I could literally feel myself shaking. _Oh my God... This is it. I'm about to die._ The man hadn't fired yet, as if he were savouring the moment. _Why? Why do I have to die? What did I ever do...?_ "Say your prayers, dipshit," he said with a slight chuckle, and pulled the trigger.

_*CLICK*_

And thanks be to God, there wasn't a bullet left to shoot.

"What in the-! I was sure it was full...! Tch, whatever!" He quickly put the gun back in his pocket and took out- _The hell? How many damn knives does that guy have!_ "I'll kill you with my own hands!"

"Oh frig!" I immediately stood up and pulled Rise with me. The moment I did I had to lean my head back to dodge the swinging blade. It just nearly nipped my nose, and when I had the chance I pushed Rise behind me and out into the open. "Rise-chan, _run!_"

The girl fell to the ground with a terrified look. "What! But-"

I dodged another slash. "_**NOW!**_"

She was hesitant at first, but before too long she stood and ran away. The moment she did, I heard her yell for help.

"_FUCK!_" The hooded man tried for a couple more swings, but I managed to get out of the way of them all. His knuckles turned white from clenching the knife too hard, and after one more final swing and a miss, he (carefully) slammed the knife into his pocket. "This isn't over!" he yelled and turned around. "You hear me! _This isn't fucking over!_"

And with that, the hooded guy ran like a little girl. And I fell back onto my rump from exhaustion. _How many times is it now that I've almost died?_

'_**Too many, I believe...'**_

_Yeah..._ Right in front of me, there was a set of stairs leading to the streets of the city. Running up those stairs was the perpetrator, who was moving rather fast. Following close behind him was Naoto, Souji, Yosuke and Kanji, in that order.

"Stop!" Naoto yelled after the man, though it didn't work. "Get back here!"

"You honestly think telling him to stop will make him!" Yosuke shouted at little detective. They were suddenly out of earshot, and silence was all around me. _Oh, Wyvern!_

_'**No, I do not know what that voice was, where it came from, how it got in, who's it was, and why you heard it.'**_

**_._**_..Oh. Uhhh, okay, thanks._

That's when I remembered that moving around that much had caused pain on my body. Although, honestly, it wasn't as bad as earlier. It still hurt, yes, but just a _tad_ bit less. _That whatever-the-hell-it-is healing-thing must already be working... That's kinda handy._

"Andrew-kun...?"

I craned my neck around to look at the voice. Rise was poking her head around the corner of the building with a very scared and very worried face. "A-Ah, hey," I said calmly. "Everything's alright now."

"Y-You're not hurt this time, are you?"

"No. You'd feel it too, right?"

"...Oh. Right." She walked up towards me, bent down and hugged me. "Thank God... I was so afraid..."

"Yeah... I was, too." I put my arms around her as well. "But don't worry. We're fine now. Nothing happened to us."

"M-Mhm..." Her head laid itself on my shoulder. I thought she was about to cry yet again, but it seemed I was wrong. "I'm just so relieved now... I honestly thought one of us would have gotten shot..."

"The good thing is neither of us did. And plus, I'd never let anything like that happen to you."

"I know you wouldn't." Her tone made it sound like she was smiling. "Hey, um..."

"What?"

"This may seem like a weird question, but, was there a... voice in your head?"

"You mean... besides Wyvern?"

"Y-Yeah."

"...Actually, yes, there was."

Her head shot up and she looked at my eyes. "A woman's voice?"

"...Yeah, it was a woman's..."

"The same thing happened to me! It wasn't Himiko, either, it was someone else! Whoever it was told me to bite that guy's hand..."

"And she told me to go hit him, and to duck when he was about to shoot us..."

"...It sounds like... she was watching over us or something... Making sure we were alright..."

I blinked and processed this information. "It couldn't've been... another Persona, could it?"

Rise shook her head. "I'm not sure... We could ask Souji-senpai, but I don't know what he would say..."

"Let's ask him... later. I don't really want to think about this any more than I have to..."

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

"Rise-chan, Andrew-kun!"

From behind me, Chie and Yukiko appeared. "Hey, guys," I said with a smile.

They raced over and knelt alongside us. _Oh, hey. I'm surrounded by three girls in bikinis. Nice!_ "Are you two okay?" Chie asked.

"Just fine," Rise answered. "No one was hurt this time."

"Except that guy. Rise-chan bit his hand."

"She did?" Yukiko asked with a cringed face. "Ick... Why?"

"I had to get away from him somehow."

"Hey, where's Nanako-chan and Teddie?" I asked the girls.

"Teddie's looking after Nanako-chan down by the water. We... didn't want her to know about this..."

"Hmm, smart move."

"C'mon, let's go out of here." Chie stood up, as well as Yukiko, and walked back out onto the beach. I, too, stood and helped Rise up off the ground, and we followed the two second-years. When we got onto the beach, Chie and Yukiko were looking up towards the stairs. My gaze went there as well, and I saw the four guys returning to the beach without the man.

"You didn't catch him?" I asked worriedly.

"No... I'm afraid not," Naoto answered in dejection. "We lost him in a rather large crowd... He was also surprisingly fast for someone of his height. Not even Kanji-san could catch him."

"I did my best, dammit..." the big guy muttered.

"We know you did," Souji said. "But... I didn't expect anything like that to happen _here_ of all places..."

"No one did..." Yukiko mumbled. Everyone's heads hung in depression. It was obvious that what happened brought down the mood.

"How about... we just go back to Inaba now?" I offered. "There's not much point staying here now after _that_..."

"Yeah, I think it's about time we left," Yosuke added. "Why don't we just go back and get our things?"

"Yeah, let's go..." Chie agreed, and the eight of us walked back to the chairs.

* * *

~6:00 PM~

When we gathered are things and got Teddie and Nanako with us, we headed for the train station to go back home. Unfortunately for us, the next train didn't arrive for at least an hour and a half, so it was somewhat late by the time we boarded.

The seating arrangements were the same as last time, except Kanji managed to nab the seat Chie was in, so it was us first-years in a group.

"So," Naoto began as the train departed. "What happened?"

"Umm... I was going to get some ice cream for Andrew-kun and me," Rise explained. "And then... whoever that guy was just grabbed me and threatened me to keep quiet. He had a gun, so I didn't have-"

"A _gun_?" Naoto went wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but it was silenced, so no one heard it..." I told him.

"Right... So, um-"

"Please excuse my interruption again, but you said that as if he _did_ shoot it."

"Oh, um, yeah, he did... I, uh, probably should've said that back there..."

"...Yes, that would've been wise... But hopefully the police back there will find the bullet."

"It hit the building right next to the one we were behind, so maybe..."

"Anyways, please continue, Rise-san."

"Oh, thank you... Um, he dragged me to behind that building, and when Andrew-kun came around the man told him that he would shoot... He didn't at first, but when I was able to break away from him, he tried to shoot..." She suddenly wrapped her arms around herself. "Geez... It's only sinking in that we _just _managed to avoid death..."

"Yeah..." I nodded. "We were really lucky."

"How exactly did you break away from him?" Naoto asked Rise.

"Oh, um..." Her face became a light shade of red. "I... bit his hand..." Naoto blinked and raised his eyebrow, but Rise continued before he could speak. "Well, that distracted him long enough for Andrew-kun to actually punch him. That let me get away from him, and _then _he almost shot us..."

Rise's head lowered and her eyes showed signs of sorrow, and I knew she didn't want to talk about it anymore. So I did. "He fired his gun, and I fell to the ground with Rise-chan. He was going to shoot again, but there was only one bullet loaded into the thing. Instead of reloading it, he took out another knife and tried to ki... kill me... with that. Rise-chan got away and called for help, and then the guy fled the scene."

"...I see." Naoto sighed heavily. "I'm sorry to say there is not much I can do, except leave this to the police. I doubt they'd be able to find the perpetrator with a single bullet, even if they do find it, but we must not lower our hopes."

"And our defenses..." I replied. "We weren't expecting that to happen... I mean, out of all places, why the _beach_? I'm not surprised with Okina, but isn't Zeai, like, in the opposite direction or something?"

"That _is_ true... One would not expect the same person to attempt rape a second time in a completely different location as the first..."

"Hey," Rise said sternly to Naoto. "Don't say that so casually. In fact, let's stop talking about it. It's really depressing..."

"...Right. My apologies."

The redhead only nodded, and turned back to the window (I had to give up the window seat _again_). The sun was just beginning to set now, and with no doubt it would be almost gone by the time we get back to Inaba. The descending sun was giving off such a radiant light, and it was shimmering off of Rise's face, making her look even more beautiful than she already was.

_It's no wonder why someone would want to try to do that to her... She's breathtaking, really._

**__****'How much longer are you going to gush over her?'**

_Not much longer. Why?_

**__****'Because it is annoying me rather much.'**

_Shut it. You're me, I'm you, so you must love her, too. Unless your feelings are toward her Persona..._

**__****'I must admit Rise is... somewhat cute.'**

_Somewhat? Are you serious?_

**__****'What, are you wishing for a dragon to fall in love with a female human, too? A ****teenaged**_** female human? I am far older than your's and your friends' ages combined.'**_

_Ah- ...P-Point taken._

**__****'As I thought.'**

_...I don't know how, but my mind is suddenly brought back to that __other__ voice... You have no idea who... or what it was, do you?_

**__****'No. What I ****can**_** say, though, is that it was a woman, and that she broke open the boundary between her mind and yours.'**_

_The... boundary? You mean like, she read my thoughts?_

**__****'Not exactly. She only allowed herself to mentally communicate with you. She did not read your subconscious thoughts, only the ones directed to her.'**

_...Uh. I don't really understand._

**__****'To be honest, neither do I. But because I am part of your mind, I knew only that.'**

_I see... There are so many strange things going on: Rise-chan's and my connection, now the voices of... what, reality warping women? And plus our quick regenerating ability... which, by the way, is working on my sun burn even as we spea- I mean, think._

**__****'Indeed... There are many things that's happening that we have yet to grasp the truth of.'**

_But... we'll just have to wait and see if anything else happens, right?_

**__****'Correct.'**

"Um, Andrew-kun, what're you looking at?"

"Huh!" I blinked furiously and glanced my eyes around. Rise and Naoto were looking at me curiously. "A-Ah, nothing... I was just thinking about something, is all..."

"Hm... Okay then..." As she was turning back to the window, she yawned a mighty yawn, which caused Naoto and I to yawn as well. "Huh, it's been a long day. No wonder I'm so tired." She glanced back at me. "I'm taking a nap." And then she snuggled right into my shoulder.

"Uh, okay then. It's not like you have to ask first, but alright..." My gaze wandered back towards Naoto somehow, and I took note of the small frown on his face. His eyes were glued on Rise, but for the reason why, I didn't know. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Hm?" His eyes shifted to look at me, but then he shook his head. "It's nothing."

"You sure? 'Cause-"

"No, it's nothing to concern yourself with."

"If you... say so..." And then I looked at the fourth member of our group. "...Was Kanji asleep this whole time?"

Naoto looked (waaaay) up at him. "He didn't speak up during our conversation, so most likely."

"Geez, how could have I not heard his snoring up 'til now...?"

"Oh great," Rise spoke up from my shoulder. "Now I'm hearing it, too. Thanks a lot."

"Haha, no problem."

"Oh, I just realized something," Naoto said.

"What?"

"What ever happened to Adachi-san?"

...

"Did... Did we leave him back there?"

"He should be fine," Rise replied sleepily. "He's an adult... He can find his way back..."

"True, I guess. And who knows, he could even be on the train now."

"Yeah, I s'pose..."

* * *

**~8:00 PM~**

About five minutes to Inaba, the conductor of the train announced that we were almost there. Rise and Kanji were still sound asleep, and Naoto was showing signs of nodding off, as well. I, on the other hand, was wide awake, because, hell, there was a girl fast asleep on my shoulder! How the hell could I sleep when that's happening?

It was at that time that I had to wake everyone up. "Rise-chan. We're almost there now."

"Mm... Five more minutes..." _What a clichéd response._

"No, you have to wake up."

"No... Too tired..."

"Alright then." Using my free arm, I reached around her and began tickling her sides.

"Ah! N-No, sto- Hahaha!"

"I told you to wake up, and wake up you will!"

"O-Okay, okay, I'm up, hahahaha! J-Just quit it!"

"Heheh, fiiine." I did so, and Rise finally decided to sit upright. She glared at me with an amused yet annoyed smirk, if that's even possible. I only grinned back at her, but then glanced over to the other first-years. Naoto was already wide awake, and Kanji was just beginning to stir. "Hey, I killed three birds with one stone. Neat-o!" A groan from my left made me shift my gaze to over there. Souji, Nanako, Yukiko and Teddie were also beginning to awaken, as well as Yosuke and Chie in another section. Each of them glanced and/or glared towards me. "...Uh, you woke them up," I told my girlfriend.

"Wha- No way, you did!"

"It was your voice, though."

"You were tickling me! I couldn't help it!"

"You could've laughed quietly."

"That's no possible when someone's doing that to you!"

"Shush! You'll wake up everyone else!"

"It wasn't me, dammit!"

* * *

When the train stopped at the station, everyone said their good-byes to one another, and as I was about to head back to the inn Rise actually dragged me with her.

"And why am I coming with you and Kanji back to the shopping district?"

"Because I want you to come with me."

"And what about Kanji? Does he want me to come with you?"

"...Dude, word your sentences right."

"...Oh, whoops. My bad. Ermm, does Kanji want me to... _accompany_ you to your house?"

"I don't care. Though it's not like my opinion would change her mind."

"Ah, yeah. I doubt anyone's opinions would."

"I'm right here, you know."

"Yeah."

"We know."

She stuck her tongue out at us as we laughed.

* * *

When we got to the shopping district, the sun was completely down. Kanji bid us a farewell and walked up to the textile shop, and then there were only two left.

"How'd you find today?" I asked her as we stood in front of her house. There wasn't a soul around besides us, so we were completely alone on the street.

"Today was awesome," she said with a grin. "Up 'til around that last bit, though..."

"A-Ah, right... Sorry for, uh, bringing it up."

"No, don't worry about it." She sighed suddenly. "W-Well, I... guess I'll see you later..."

_Hesitation? Oh, no, I know what's wrong._ "Hey, don't be so scared, okay? You're not alone here, right?"

"But... grandma won't be able to do anything... "

_Oh crap, she's about to cry again._ "U-Um..." I didn't really know what to say, so I just hugged her tightly. And then I _did_ know what to say. "Don't worry, okay? No one will sneak in, and you won't get hurt. You said before that there's an alarm system if anyone passes the front counter, right?"

"Ah... yeah, I did..."

"Then nothing will happen. Trust me."

She was silent for a moment, but then wrapped her own arms around my back. The sunburn didn't hurt as much anymore, although there was a tinge of pain. "Andrew-kun..."

"Hm?"

"...Can you..." She swallowed. "C-Can you... stay here tonight?"

And I blushed yet again. "Wh-Wha...?"

"No matter what kind of security there is, I'll still be too frightened to actually sleep..." Her face was buried in my chest, yet I could understand her words perfectly. "If you're even just in the house, I'll sleep peacefully..."

"Rise-chan..." _Okay, I know I told her that no one would hurt her when I'm around, but I was just trying to get her to smile... I've gotta set her straight._ "L-Listen, I know I said I'll protect you and keep you safe, but I haven't been doing a good job at it..."

"I know, and I don't care. No matter where we are or what happens, I always feel safer when you're around."

"...I'm sorry, but you can't depend on me forever... I-"

"I won't be depending on you forever. Only now, until I'm strong enough to fend for myself."

"A-Ah...?" _She already thought this out?_

"But right now, I'm not strong enough to keep myself safe... T-To be honest, I don't _like_ having to depend on someone..." _O-Oh..._ "But... at this moment, I'm aware of my limits. I'm not the strongest fighter out of everyone on the team. Just being touched by electricity or something forces me to the ground. ...I know that's probably irrelevant, but still..."

"...S-So... Until you can defend yourself, you're looking to me for protection...?"

"Yeah..."

"...How long have you decided this?"

"Since you first said you'll protect me."

"...I see..." _Wow, she's revealing a lot of stuff today_. "And here I was thinking I'll always have to be by your side..."

"What, you don't want to be?"

"I didn't say that. I'm sad now."

"Aww, don't be."

"I may even wind up crying myself, now..."

"Sissy."

"Hey, watch it."

"...So, did you want to, um, sleep over...? I don't want to sound self-centered, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep well if you don't..."

A thought occurred. "You're not, by any chance, holding back tears, are you?"

"...They were, um, all dried up from earlier today..."

"Ah. W-Well, I suppose I... _could_ stay the night, but I don't have any of my stuff here..."

"Doesn't matter. You can do whatever you need to when you get back home tomorrow."

"And your grandma won't mind if I'm here?"

"She goes to bed early and wakes up late. She probably won't notice you were even there if you leave early."

"Well... if you insist..."

I was squeezed tighter. "T-Thank you!" She leaned up and kissed me, "I love you!"

"I love you, too," I told her, squeezing her back. _But... knowing that she's just upstairs asleep... will __I__ be able to sleep tonight...?_

**

* * *

~2:00 AM~**

Rise was kind enough to set up a spare futon on the floor of the living room, and soon after that bid me a good night. I called Teddie and told him I wasn't coming back that night. While he was saddened by this, he was also impressed that I was able to sleep at Rise's house, even if I wasn't in her room.

At around two in the morning, I was awoken by a noise. At first, I had thought the worst and figured someone _was_ trying to sneak their way in. But it was only after that I realized that it was something else.

I don't know when or how, but I know why. Sometime during the night, Rise decided to crawl into my futon with me.

_...Is she really __that_

_ scared? She didn't seem like it earlier..._

****

_**'Why are you questioning this? Isn't this what you wanted?'**_

_Y-Yeah, but... not under these circumstances... Was she lying when she said she wasn't holding back tears...?_

****

_**'I can't think of any other reason why she's with you now.'**_

_Yeah... Well, anyways, I definitely won't be falling asleep tonight._

**

* * *

**

**Ahh, finally done. This thing took a reeeeal long time to write. Apparently it's almost thirty pages long ^^;**

**What do you think? Funny? Boring? Too mushy? I'm hoping that you all liked it! (I'm also hopeful I got the reasoning for the last part at least a **_**bit**_** good.)**

**And because of his inability to be anything but an Unreliable Narrator, Rise actually **_**was**_** holding back tears. Just had to tell you guys.**

**So, um, let the speculation on that 'other voice' begin, I supose. If you want to take a shot in the dark, PM me. If you don't want to bother with it then don't.**

**Laters!**


	24. Power Trio and a Bear

**Yaaaaaaar. I be a pirate, mateys. I'll make ye walk the plank if ye don't review. Yo-ho-ho.**

***Author thinks up crappy review one-liner while he plays fitting music***

**Astrih Konnash:** Oh geez, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope nothing like that happens again.

**anon:** Ohh Adachi's a 'genius' alright (since Andy didn't know this, you guys wouldn't know this, so I may as well say it). Adachi actually _did_ have several bullets in the gun, but something happened that made him lose them. Not saying what, that would spoil everything :)

**Windmarkd10:** Oh ho ho, someone's gettin' the hints. Rise won't exactly have 'competition,' since she and Andy are already together, buuuut something'll happen, believe me.

**Jharoz:** Mara will work. He can help me conquer the Earth with his almighty power of TENTACLE RAPEZ. And for some reason I like writing mushy stuff :3

**JayT:** I've been told that I'm doing a good job with it, but I honestly don't think my work is _that_ spectacular. Aw well, I ain't complaining, thanks!

**So I actually started to play P4 again. Started my third playthrough recently and just finished saving Yukiko. Happiness will come with the dungeon after the next one, can't wait~ :D**

**Also, regarding the voice, I've decided to right down the names of the people that have been guessed in a list at the bottom. These answers are incorrect, by the way, so SORRY to those who answered wrong.**

**Disclaimer: P4 is not mine, but Andy is. And his family, I s'pose.**

* * *

**~Monday, August 8th~  
~8:00 AM~  
**

* * *

My eyes opened to see the dark sky shooting rain down towards the earth. I groaned and tried to turn over to the other side of the futon since that one was colder, but I couldn't, because there was a rather curvy body in the way. I chose to just flip my body over, and when I looked at the girl sleeping right beside me, my face immediately turned red.

I never had a good look at Rise's face when she was asleep before, but I can easily say that she looked very cute. She was sleeping so peacefully, as if nothing happened at all yesterday. Her face didn't show any signs of strain, which meant she wasn't having a bad dream or anything, thankfully. She was also breathing softly, and didn't look like she was about to wake up anytime soon. Her hair wasn't in its twin tail form, as well, and it was strewn all over the pillow her head was on.

And that's when I noticed that her tank top strap was falling down one of her arms.

Something else to note: no bra.

_...Oh geez, I can almost see her... um, uh... H-Hey, is there any blood pouring through my nostrils?_

_**'Not yet, at least.'**_

_Good... A-Anyways, maybe I can-_

_**'Don't touch her.'**_

_...Damn you, man. Damn you._

Rise suddenly stirred, and before I could react her whole body shifted to face me. Her left hand was lazily laid on the top of her pillow, and it took all my might to try and stop me from grasping it.

Note that I said 'try.'

Slowly my own hand raised from the covers and gently grabbed onto hers. Her skin was as soft as always, and not long after I held it her fingers wrapped around my hand. She groaned as one of her eyes began to crack open, and once they both were, I smiled at her. "_Ohayou_," I said.

"_O... Ohayou..._" she yawned sleepily. She moved her hand around so that our fingers were intertwined. "When'd you find out I was here...?"

"I think... it was the moment you got in," I replied, my smile not fading.

Her drowsy eyes blinked at me. "Oh... Sorry."

And now I blinked. "Why're you apologising? I don't mind at all."

"W-Well, I just crawled in without you knowing... I thought you probably wouldn't've wanted that..."

"No way." I let go of her hand and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me. "Why would I ever be mad at something you did?" _Especially if it involved me and a bed?_

"...True, I guess..." Her small arms placed themselves around me, but she didn't snuggle into my chest. "But, still... Sorry."

"Don't say that. There's no need to."

"...If you say so."

"So, what was your reason for coming down here?"

"Uh... A nightmare."

"A nightmare? About what?"

"About... the guy from yesterday..."

_...How in blazes did I not realize __**that**__?_ "O-Oh, really...?"

"Mhm... I woke up with a fright and couldn't fall back to sleep... So I got in the futon with you, and I was able to fall right back to sleep."

"...You can't be _that_ dependant on me, can you?"

"I don't want to be, but yeah, I am."

"...You shouldn't be. I've been able to do nothing since you joined the team. I couldn't save you from that guy the first time. I had to get Naoto to help us, and-"

"That's not true." I gasped a little bit at the interruption. Her head cuddled into my chest as she continued. "You've done more than enough for me already. You saved me from my Shadow, caught me when that Mitsuo guy's Shadow threw me to the ground, and you were able to get me out of that man's grip _and_ got me to dodge that bullet yesterday. If it wasn't for you during all those times, I wouldn't be hear right now."

"..." _That's... actually true... I never realized up till now, but I really __**have**__ been protecting her..._

"You know," Rise said, "I don't think I ever really thanked you for any of that..."

"You probably thanked the whole team for rescuing you from your Shadow, but for the other times, I don't think so."

"And you basically saved my life both times, sooo... A simple 'thank you' might not be enough..."

"So, um, what are suggesting?"

She giggled. "What does a couple normally do when they're both underneath the same bed covers?"

"..._OH_." She chuckled at my ignorance, but did nothing more. "U-Um... You're not being serious, are you?"

She looked up at me with a seductive smile. "Maaaaybe... Or maybe not~"

"C-C'mon, be sensible now. It's, what, eight-thirty in the morning and your grandmother's just upstairs. We-"

"Geez, calm down, will you?" Her smile turned into a grin. "I'm only kidding, dummy. I know when and where we should or shouldn't do it."

"...You make it sound like we will do it at some point."

She laughed through her teeth and pulled my face closer to hers. "Eventually."

_YES._

"Wipe that smug grin off your face, Andrew-kun. I could be saying that it may be years before anything like that happens."

_DRAT._

Rise giggled a bit and pecked my lips with hers. "On a more serious note though, I think it's time we got up. Grandma may wake up soon, so we've got to put the futon away and get you out of here before she does."

"Aww, do we have to? I'm liking the position we're in right now..."

"Mmm... Alright, fine, we can wait another few minutes if you really want."

"_Arigato_."

"_Hai, hai._"

I pulled her closer to me and put one of my hands on her back. I then remembered something. "You know... You look a lot different with your hair down like that."

"You think so?"

"Mhm. I mean... You look a lot older, honestly. And a lot more mature, too."

"Heeey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying you look a lot more beautiful than you normally do."

"B... Beautiful? Not... cute?"

"...Uh, no? But, um, if you want me to call you cute-"

"No no! Beautiful's fine!"

_...Beautiful can be used to define older women, right?_

_**'I believe so.'**_

_I guess some people call her cute because of her childishness or looks...?_ "To be honest, I think you should keep it down more often. I think I'd prefer it like that."

"What, do you have some weird fetish for long hair or something?"

"Haha, I may, or I may not. But honestly, you look great with it down."

"Hmm... I may keep it down for the day. Just for you."

"You will? Thank you!"

"Oh ho, so you _do_ like long hair..."

"S-So what if I do?"

"Never said that was a bad thing, did I?"

"Oh, uh. R-Right." I remembered something else. "You're also, uh... apparently wearing nothing underneath that tank top."

"Yeah, I know." Another grin spread on her face. "Why? You like that?"

"...Obviously I do," I chuckled.

"Did you wanna see?"

"...H-H-H-H-Huh?"

"Pfft, ahahaha! You're face is priceless!" I was just a tad too stunned to say anything. "C'mon, you thought I actually would show you, didn't you?"

"D-Don't tease me like that."

"But it's so funny! I needed something to start the day!"

"...You're terrible, you know that? Tricking me like that..."

"Aww, I'm sorry, did I make you sad? Don't start crying now, please?"

"You're ticklish, right?"

"...W-Wait, what?" It's a good thing my hands were on her waist. "N-No! Ahaha, s-stop, please! I beg you, sto-ahahahaha!"

"Apologise, and I'll stop!"

"O-Okay, okay, hahaha! I-I'm sorry!"

"For whaaaaat?"

"F-For tricking you!"

"And will you ever trick me again?"

"Y-Yeah! Ahahaha!"

"...That'll probably be the best I get out of you." I stopped my hands, and took note of the position we were now in. "How'd I wind up on top of you?"

"Haa, haa..." Rise was busy catching her breath, but she opened her eyes to see me over her. "How did that happen?"

"No clue."

"So, ignoring that for now... you wanna do something?"

"Like what?"

"Like get up out of the bed."

"I'm liking the spot we're in now, thank you very much."

Rise giggled. "Seriously, though. Grandma's gonna be up any moment now, and I doubt she'd want to see us like this."

"I thought you said she woke up late?"

"She does. Around nine."

"That's late?"

"Yeah? What's your definition of waking up late?"

"Around eleven or twelve."

"Really? ...Huh, you really are a lazy person, aren't you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just saying that you should be more active."

"Alright then. How about we start by crushing the girl beneath me?"

"We could do that. Or..." Her hands found their way around my neck. "We could do something... else."

"..._That_?"

"No no no no no. Just kissing."

"Oh." _DAMN. _"But that won't make me more active."

"So?"

"...I like the way you think."

"I know you do." I slowly began to move my head down to hers, but before anything could happen, footsteps were suddenly heard from upstairs. "Oh, crap, grandma's up! I'm sorry, but you gotta go!"

"Wha-"

"No time, GO!"

* * *

**~Monday, August 15th~  
****~11:30 AM~  
**

* * *

For the last seven days, Yosuke had called Teddie and I into work for extra hours. I'm not sure why he made us do it throughout the _whole _week, but at least we got some more money. It wasn't even that busy, but when I asked him if we needed to come into work for today, he said we didn't have to bother. Apparently, there was a lot going on at that moment, but he already got Souji and Chie to help him out with it. He said that the three of them were fine on their own, plus they had some other Junes employees to help, and because we worked so diligently the last week, he said that my bear and I were free for the day.

I was _just_ about to go over to Rise's house the moment I heard that, but Ted practically begged me to spend the day with him. It was true that we never actually spent that much time together besides work and nighttimes, so I dropped my plans to surprise my girlfriend with a visit and hung out with Teddie.

Instead of spending the day inside on a perfectly good day, the two of us decided to walk to the Samegawa Flood Plain for whatever reason. When we were there, we just so happened to run into Kanji walking the opposite direction as us. We greeted each other and sat down at the table not too far away from the road.

"_Man_, I am bored," Kanji whined. "There's hardly anything to do during the summer holidays."

"Why don't you study?" I asked jokingly.

"Tch. Yeah right. As if someone _studies_ over the holidays."

"Well, then... Why don't we go for something to eat?"

"Nah. Just had breakfast not too long ago."

"And I'm not exactly hungry right now," Teddie added.

"Then I don't know what to do." I leaned my head back. "What haven't we done so far this summer...?"

"We haven't gone to a festival," Kanji said, "but that's not until next week."

"I don't think we've had a watermelon before," Teddie suggested. "But they're beary expensive from what I've seen..."

"How about this?" I offered. "Every time Teddie makes a bad bear pun, we get to punch him in the face?"

"Sounds good to me."

"W-What!"

"Alright, Ted, hold still. This won't hurt a bit."

"W-WAIT!"

I laughed, as did Kanji (although his was more of a chuckle). "Calm down, man. I'm kidding. It's not like we'd actually hurt you or anything."

Teddie's arms were still in front of his face in terror, but he didn't dare peek out from behind them. "Y-You promise...?"

"Of course," Kanji said while still chuckling. "Why would we want to do that to ya?"

"..." _Now _Ted's arms started to lower down to his sides. "That's true, I guess..."

"So. We still have the problem of being bored out of our skulls." Us three guys sighed and hung our heads. We were silent for a moment, before I idly raised my hand and looked at it. For some reason or another, I attempted to spark the electricity through it. Obviously it didn't work, but then an amazing idea hit me. "I've got it."

"What?" the other two asked in unison.

"We should go to the TV world and train."

Stares all around.

"...Why?" Kanji asked me with a single raised eyebrow. "We solved the case, so there's no reason to go there and train."

"But what else are we gonna do? If we don't do something we're gonna be stuck doing nothing at all for the rest of the day."

"But Sensei's working today," Teddie said. "He won't be able to lead us- or rather, you guys, in battle."

"We'll decide on someone else as leader." I turned to Kanji, "You'll be it, since you're the more experienced fighter between the two of us."

"M-Me?" He seemed generally surprised. "B-But I'm not really good at leading anyone anywhere. ...Actually, I can see you as a leader more than me."

"You do?"

"I do, too," Teddie told me. "To me, you just seem capable enough to do that."

"Really?" I blinked. _Never thought I was like that. _"But to be honest, I've never actually _been _a leader before."

"What about a captain in team sports?" Kanji asked.

"Nope. Hardly ever played sports, and even then I was just another team mate."

"What about those games you played with your friends?" Ted asked. "Those team-based ones?"

"We basically did whatever the hell we wanted to. I mean, it wasn't _organized_ team-based games. It was more like 'go all-out and blow shit up.'"

"Then how when you _don't_ play with friends?" Kanji asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when you're playin' by yourself, ya gotta be in total control, right? Givin' commands to other characters in the game and all that."

"…That's true, I suppose… Playing some games by yourself _does_ require you to lead a group of something. But then again, I never really bothered to be a good leader, since if a team actually died then it hardly meant anything. So I'm not actually… er, trained, to command other people."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to start learning, right? Doesn't matter if you don't know how. Hell, according to Souji-senpai, he knew nothing of being a leader until he came here."

"Really?" I replied. I lowered my head, "Then maybe I will give it a shot..."

"Besides," Kanji continued, "it was your idea in the first place, so you're gonna be the leader anyways."

"Hey, that's low."

"That's _fair_."

"...Yeah, I guess it is."

"So then. Should we go back to our houses and get our weapons?"

"Yeah. Oh, I'll text- I mean, e-mail Rise-chan and see if she's wanting to come with us."

Kanji sighed with a chuckle in his voice. "Why am I not surprised?"

"What? It's obvious I'd ask her to come with us. Out of the whole team, the three of us are the least strongest, and since she's the newest, she's also the weakest and least experienced. I think it's a good idea to get us first years together and train to catch up with our senpai."

"Whatever you say." Kanji stood up from the table and began to walk away. "Right then, I'm going back home. We'll meet at Junes in half an hour or something?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "But our senpai are working there today, so instead of meeting at the special headquarters, go straight to the other world. We don't want to be caught by them."

"Right, right." He raised a hand as a form of departure. "Later."

"See ya, Kanji!" Teddie cried while he waved his own hand vigorously. When Kanji was out of sight, Teddie turned to me. "Are you going back to the inn now?"

"Yep. Gotta get my clea-" My eyes shot open. "Oh, _shit_, I have no weapon." I slapped my forehead. "I frickin' forgot my cleaver broke way back when we fought the murderer! I can't believe I hadn't remembered till now!"

"So, what're you gonna do?"

I let out a sigh and said, "I'm gonna hafta get my glasses, then rush to the shopping district and buy something else from Daidara's. Oh, hang on, wait a minute now. What happened to my cleaver anyways?"

"I think it's still in the other side, behind that stack of TVs. I brought it there when you passed out that one time."

"Oh, right... Thanks."

"No problem!"

"Anyways, let's go. We've gotta be quick if we want to get to Junes in half an hour."

"You go on to the inn. I'm going straight there now."

"The TV world?"

"Yeah."

"Ohhh, I gotcha. Even though you say that you'd rather stay here, you still miss your home!"

"No. I just don't want to have to go back to the inn. No point in going when I have nothing to get."

"Huh, that's true. Alright then, I'll meet you there."

"Righty-o! Laters!"

* * *

**~12:00 PM~**

* * *

"Fifteen minutes before we gotta meet," I whispered to myself as I rushed to the shopping district. "Must. Run. Faster."

I passed the 'half-way-point' and, just as expected, Rise's presence appeared. I figured she was at home, perhaps helping at the tofu shop, and when I get to Daidara she's going to be wondering where the hell I've been to the last week. _I'm prepared for a storm of angry._

'_**There cannot be a storm full of an emotion.'**_

_Do you not comprehend sarcasm or something?_

'**_Of course I can. _**_**I am simply pointing out a fact, is all.'**_

_I am well aware of there not being- HOLY CRAP I ALMOST GOT HIT BY A DELIVERY TRUCK._

'_**Please, watch where you're going. I wouldn't like to see the face of Rise if you suddenly became a pancake on the road.'**_

_You know, it's hard to concentrate on where I'm going when I'm talking to you._

'_**Then don't talk to me.'**_

_But you just started talking all of a- OW I RAN INTO A LIGHT POST._

'_**What did I just say?'**_

_WILL YOU SHUT IT?_

After receiving a bump on the head, I began to rub it as I entered the metalworks shop just next door to Rise's house. As I expected, her presence began to move towards the door. And as I expected once again, Daidara was standing with his arms crossed behind the counter.

"Well, now," he greeted. "Haven't seen you or your friends in a long time."

"Yeah..." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "There's not really much need for weapons anymore, but some friends of mine and I are going training and I need a new one."

"What happened to your cleaver?"

"It, uh... kind of broke."

I could tell that the scarred man was _**NOT**_ impressed. "...I see." He sighed and pointed to one of the shelves. "I'll have you know, I just finished making a suitable blade for someone like you recently. It's stronger than your old one, and it should... hopefully, last longer."

"Ah, r-right, thank you." I walked to the shelf and picked up- "Oooh, a machete? Looks pretty-"

"_EXCUSE ME!_"

"Ah... Hey, Rise-chan," I sighed, turning to the front door. Rise was glaring at me with her hands on her hips, and her surprisingly straight, non-twin-tailed hair flowing behind her. She walked up to me and, instead of the slap I was expecting, I was hugged instead.

"Where the hell were you?" she asked me.

"Working, I told you that."

"I mean today."

"I was with Teddie, and we met up with Kanji."

"So I was left out of the picture."

"I was about to come over earlier, but Teddie insisted I spend the day with him."

"You should've punched him out."

"I was going to, but I didn't want to actually hurt the guy."

"If he was keeping you away from me, I would've hurt him."

"I know you would've."

"A-_hem_."

"Oh, uh, right." I looked over the machete in my hands one last time, extracted the large quantity of money from my pocket, and walked over to the counter. "I'll take it."

"Huh? Why're you buying another weapon?" Rise asked as she walked beside me.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I didn't tell you yet. Kanji, Teddie and I decided to go to the other world to do some training." I handed the money to Daidara, and he placed it in the cash register. "That's why I'm getting another weapon, since the cleaver broke."

"And when were you going to tell me about this?"

"As soon as I remembered."

"That could've been, like, tonight."

"It could've been, yeah."

"Screw you."

"No, screw you. And thank you." That last part was said to Daidara as he handed me the machete and the change. Placing it in my jacket, I turned on my heel and walked out of the store with my girlfriend following me. "I'm meeting up with Kanji at Junes now, so you may want to come with us."

"Ugh... Do we have to go there?"

"Well, what else are we first years - and Teddie - going to do? As a whole, I mean. And plus, us three are the weakest on the team, so this would be good in case we ever need to go in again."

"But we solved the case and arrested the murderer! We don't need to go in there anymore, do we?"

"Then what about you, personally?" I asked, changing my tone to calm and sincere.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You want to become strong enough to protect yourself, right? You don't want to depend on me forever, remember?" She didn't say anything, so I continued. "Training in the TV world's the best way for you to get stronger. If you're going to be taking care of yourself soon, then I think that this is the best option."

"..." Rise's head lowered, but then she walked to me and wrapped her arms around my stomach. "Promise me something."

"What?"

"Even when I get that strong... don't ever leave me."

_...But I'll have to leave eventually..._ "...I promise." My arms went around her head and back and pulled her closer to me. "I'll never leave you, Rise-chan. Cross my heart, and hope to-"

"Don't say that." Rise interrupted, looking up at me with a mad/sad expression. "Don't you _ever_ say that."

"...Right. Sorry."

For what seemed like the longest of whiles, we stood on the street embraced in each other's arms. And in nothing short of a miracle, there wasn't anyone else in the district.

"...Let's go."

"Hm?"

"You said we're meeting Kanji and Teddie there, right? Let's go now."

"Y... Yeah."

* * *

The trip to Junes was unfortunately a silent one. Rise and I held hands on the way there, of course, but not a word was spoken. I honestly didn't know why, but I _was_ able to read the mood, so I kept quiet.

For about two more seconds. "S-So, um... What'd you do last week?"

"Oh, you know. Helped out at the shop, went shopping myself... I didn't really do much since you weren't around, but Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai offered to take me to get some food."

"Oh, really? That was nice of them."

"Yeah, it was. We went to Aiya, and we got to know each other a little better. Chie-senpai apparently has this dog that Yukiko-senpai found one day-"

"Hey, um, pardon my interruption, but when they're not around do we still have to call them 'senpai'?"

She blinked and thought about that. "...You know, I never really thought of that before. You're right, I don't think there's a need to." I smiled and nodded as she continued, "Anyways, Chie-sen- ...Chie owns this dog that Yukiko found one day, but couldn't take home since the inn doesn't allow pets."

"What, they don't? ...Aw, man, Ted won't be happy to hear that."

"Why? Does he want a pet or something?"

"No. It means he has to leave now."

A smile appeared on her lips now, too, as she tried to stifle a giggle. "But, other than that, nothing really happened last week."

"Mm... Sorry I was working all that time."

"No no, don't worry about it. I know what it's like to want to earn money, so I know how you feel."

"...But, wait, hang on now. You were a celebrity before coming back here right?"

"Yeah?"

"So, you must have tons of cash, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I do. I'm just saving it all up if there's ever a time I need it."

It was at that moment that Junes came into view. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Like if I get lost in a town totally unfamiliar to me, I can call a taxi, or something like that."

"That's all you'd use it for?"

"Um, yeah...? I've always been saving that money for emergencies only."

"So is that why there aren't many fancy things in your home?"

"Well... Yeah, I guess. What kinds of things would you buy if you had a lot of money?"

"Actually, I do have a lot of money, and normally, I'd go wild with it. Buy some games, order pizza every day... _maybe_ get some things for you..." I got punched in the arm for that. "Heh... But right now, under these circumstances, I've gotta save it all up for the inn expenses and food..." I sighed and stuffed my free hand in my pocket. "Just knowing that money is there, burning a hole in my wallet is really pissing me off..."

"I could lend you some extra."

"No no, that's alright. I'm okay with what I got, thanks." _I just don't like borrowing money. Means I've gotta pay 'em back._

"You sure?"

"Positive."

The moment we stepped into the department store, I quickly glanced around, on the look-out for three certain second-yearers. Luckily they weren't around, but Rise happened to see my head turning every which way. "What're you doing?"

"I'm on patrol."

"For... what?"

"Our senpai. They don't know we're going into the TV world, and-"

"They don't know? But... I thought Souji-senp- ...shouldn't Souji be guiding us through there?"

"He, Yosuke and Chie are busy working here somewhere, so I didn't want to disturb them. Plus, it'll give us a chance to catch up with them in terms of strength and technique and stuff."

"But... who'll be the leader? We can't just rush in there blindly, can we?"

"We've already figured that out. I'll be leading everyone."

"You?"

"Yep."

"...We're doomed."

"Hey, that was uncalled for and _wait just a second._" I stopped dead in my tracks, letting go of Rise's had at the same time. My attention turned to something hung on the end of one of the aisles.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"What are these?" I asked, pointing to the product.

"Um... me? On the pages of a calendar?"

I flicked through a couple of pages. "In bikinis."

"Uhh, yeah? What's wrong with that?"

"...I know what I'm spending my money on now."

"Huh?"

And I quickly took every calendar available off of its rack and ran back to the counter. "Meet you on the other side!" I cried back to her.

"Bu- W-Wait, wha...?" She had no idea what just happened.

* * *

After purchasing the calendars, I immediately walked back towards the electronics section. Looking around, I rolled up one calendar and placed it in my jacket, alongside my new machete, and climbed through the TV. When I got there, I saw Rise, Kanji and Teddie chatting amongst themselves, and as I walked to them they turned to me.

"What the heck was that about?" Rise was the first to ask.

"Nothing, nothing." I said. I held the bikini-calendars out over my open palm and produced a big burst of flame, effectively setting them on fire.

"W-What are you doing?" Teddie asked me as the trio backed away from me.

"Setting them on fire."

"Why?"

"There's no need for them to exist."

"But... they had pictures of _me_ in there," Rise raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know. I've still got one for myself."

"But what if, uh, other people wanted to buy them?"

"They don't deserve calendars like this."

"But there are others like that out there you know."

...

"Shit."

* * *

After throwing the burnt remains down the side of the platform, all of us agreed to go train at the place that had the weakest Shadows. And according to Teddie, that would be the castle Yukiko created way back when in April. Or was it May?

Luckily for us, the bear also knew the way there (he didn't actually remember, but his Persona let him find his way). After a few moments of walking down pathways we came to this HUGE European-like castle. A simple brick road lead towards the entrance, surrounded by statues of unicorns, and we all stopped just outside of it to get our plan straight.

"Okay, so everyone knows what the plan is?" I asked the others.

"...What plan?" Kanji asked, blinking.

"Oh, right. Never made one." I slapped myself on the forehead. "Anyways, here's what we do. We go in, trash the Shadows in there, level up and get out."

"...Level up?" Rise asked, blinking.

"Yeah. Increase our strength, agility, magic powers, and whatnot. Or if you want to get all technical... we'll just be training."

"So, basically, just go in and kill everything in sight?"

"Pretty much."

"...I like that plan," Kanji grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Okay, new leader, lead the way!"

"You got it!" I turned on my heel, raised the machete above my head and charged for the entrance with a cry of war. Both Rise and Kanji followed after me with their own distinctive shouts, and Teddie just ran/waddled after us.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when we entered the castle was that the fog was rather bright. Other than that, there was a red carpet right in front of us leading down the hall, as well as some crimson cloths hanging on the wall. "Huh, this kinda suits Yukiko, doesn't it? I mean, all the red 'n stuff."

Rise looked around and nodded. "Yeah, it does... She does kind of seem like a princess in a sort of way."

Kanji just turned to us. "Wait, don't you mean Yukiko-_senpai_?"

"Oh, uh, no. We chose not to add 'senpai' to their names whenever they're not around," Rise explained. "It just get's annoying, honestly."

"You can say senpai at the end, if you want, though," I told him.

"Uhh... Actually, it does kind of get on my nerves..." Kanji replied sheepishly.

"Good! We're all agreed, then."

"Hey, wait, I'm not!" Teddie cried, barging into the little circle we made. "I don't get to call them 'senpai,' so I'm not in agreement here!"

"But that's the thing, right?" Rise asked him.

"...Huh? Whaddaya mean?"

"I mean, you don't call them senpai anyway, right? So you're already part of our agreement."

The bear's costume's face quickly turned into a big grin. "Oh, hey, that's true!"

_...That was kinda sorta anti-climatic._ "So anyways, are we ready to go forward now?"

"Oh, right," Kanji nodded. "Sure, let's go."

"I call dibs on the first Shadow we find!" Rise shouted.

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled back. "The leader automatically gets the rights to the first Shadow that we attack!"

"Oh, c'mon, that's no fair!"

"Stop your whining and let's go already!" Kanji said as he started walking ahead. "I'm just itching to punch something!"

"Ohh, we got a little bear here that can be your punching bag!" I laughed as Teddie's eyes went bulging out of his head.

"Y-You're kidding, right?" the little guy asked.

"'Course I am."

"…Whew!"

My classmates had already started walking ahead of me, so I made sure to catch up with them. "Leaders must lead, so I'm in the front."

"Whatever," Rise and Kanji said simultaneously.

"Just don't let this whole new leader thing go to your head," my girlfriend warned. "We don't want someone with a huge ego guiding us through here."

"Sorry. Can't make any promises," I said with a smirk. "If being a leader turns out to be fun and easy, I'm sticking with and gloating about it."

"If you do, then our senpai would know about us in here. They'd be pretty pissed to know that…" Kanji mumbled.

"Oh right. Well I'll just boast about it whenever we three are around. Oh, and, uh, Ted too."

"Why do I always get left out of things now?" the bear huffed.

"Ah, sorry…"

"Maybe it's 'cause you don't actually fight?" Rise suggested. "I mean you only just sit back and help us out by yelling at us."

"I'm also giving moral support," Ted countered, "so I really am helping you guys."

"Moral support ain't enough to keep us alive," Kanji said harshly.

That made me think of something. "Hey, um, does anyone here know any healing skills?" No one responded, and after a few seconds I turned my head to face them. "Uh, then, how about having healing _items_?"

"…Um, I don't have any," Rise frowned.

"Same here," Kanji said.

"Oh oh oh!" Teddie's stubby arm shot up in the air as he hopped in place. "I've got some things! Not a lot, but it should be enough for you guys!"

"You do?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. "Where?"

The blue bear reached a paw into his pocket and took out a few small spheres. "Here you go, three Beads! These'll give you back a lot of strength and energy if you swallow them."

"Ooh, nice, Ted!" Rise commented as she took one. Kanji and I also did so. "Where'd you find them?"

"A long time ago, around the time we rescued you. I kept them on my person ever since!"

"Uh… T-Thank you…?"

"S-So, anything else?" I asked the bear, ignoring the fact that his 'person' could've been anywhere.

"Sorry! That's all I've got."

"Ah, I see…" I sighed and placed the orb in my pocket. "Alright, thank you. If we're careful this should be enough."

"Oh, hey, Andrew," Kanji got my attention. "You think your music will work here?"

"Here?" I took a quick glance around the hallway. "Umm… Honestly, I don't think so. Wyvern told me back in Mitsuo's dungeon that my music only worked because of his feelings towards music… I may be wrong, but I doubt Yukiko listens to music much."

"Well, just try it anyways. Who knows, it might work."

I sighed and reached into my back pocket. "Alright, fine." I turned on the song it was currently at, but the music only played through the iPod itself. "See? Nothin'."

"Aw, damn…" Kanji sighed as well and turned back towards the other end of the hall. "Well, whatever. Let's go get in a fight."

"Right."

And so we walked maybe two inches before we saw a Shadow crawl its way out from around a corner.

"There's one now!" Rise said as she pointed at it.

"It's rude to point, y'know," I chuckled.

"Shut up! I'm going for it!"

"Ah- Hey!" I was too late: Rise was already rushing off towards the enemy. Her long hair was flowing behind her as she ran, as was her scythe. She raised her weapon up to crash it down on the enemy.

Except she totally and completely missed when the Shadow started running away.

"What the-!" Rise shouted. The Shadow went back behind the corner, and I'm pretty sure it was shrieking in terror. "Get back here!" And then Rise followed it out of our sights.

"H-Hey, Rise-chan!" I shouted as I dashed off after her. Rounding the corner, I was just making out her figure running into the fog. I could still hear the Shadow's cries as it tried to get away from her, but after a second or two the noise disappeared.

"Gotcha!" Rise's voice called out as soon as the crying stopped. My mind immediately concluded that she had hit the blob, so I, followed by Kanji and Teddie, rushed through the fog to see her facing down-

"W-What the heck is _that_?" Kanji asked as he and Teddie reached us. In front of us were two giant zebra-colored ball-like things with mouths, teeth and rather long tongues. They looked as if they were shivering, or cowering in fear, yet they didn't try to run away at all.

"They're Shadows, obviously!" Teddie shouted. "They're also scared! Quickly, attack first!"

"Don't gotta tell me twice!" Rise's feet pushed off of the carpeted floor and charged for the closest ball-thing. Most likely using her wind powers, she was launched pretty high into the air. She pushed her scythe down onto the top of one of the enemies, and the blade went right through it. The Shadow was split in two and quickly erupted into that familiar dark icor.

"Whoa." I was stunned. "Either we're somehow super strong, or they're super weak."

"Of course they're weak," Teddie said, suddenly appearing right at my side. "This is the first place Sensei and the others came to. These Shadows are nothing compared to you guys."

"Huh, ya don't say…"

Rise quickly dispatched with the other Shadow, but when it vanished she stomped the ground. "Geez, that was way too easy! That wasn't even a warm up!"

"Seriously?" Kanji asked with a surprised look. "Then what was the point of coming here!"

"You know," Teddie interrupted, "there's a stronger Shadow farther up. It's probably not as strong as the ones from that other castle, but it might be a bigger challenge than the Shadows down here."

"…Oh, hey, I remember you saying something about that," I said, reminiscing from way back when. "Back when we finished my first training session, you said we shouldn't continue on because there was a really strong Shadow in the main room."

"Oh yeah, I remember that! Sensei said he didn't want to fight it because he thought you might've gotten hurt, so we just left it there."

"We've all come a long way since then, so that one shouldn't be that much of a nuisance."

"True, _but_," Rise interrupted us, "you're still a novice leader, so fighting that Shadow may prove to be tough. Not just for, you but for us, too. I say we fight the one in here before we tackle anything else."

"Mm, yeah, that's probably the smart thing to do," I nodded to her. "So, shall we just rush up there? Or try to get in a couple of fights first?"

"Let me fight every one we see," Kanji boasted with a pumped fist. "We'll get to the top of this place in no time then."

"Uhh, sure, but be careful, alright? You always need to keep your guard up, even in a place like this."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry 'bout me! I'll smash anything that comes my way!"

* * *

Actually, he did. He just curb stomped every Shadow we came across and took them out in one strike or less. Except for the ones on the seventh floor, they took two hits to beat.

When we reached the eighth floor, we came to this giant door. One of those blue floating-in-circles butterflies was at the side of the door, which made Rise glad that she was allowed to go all-out and not save any energy for the trip home.

"You guys ready?" Teddie asked. "That Shadow is right behind this door."

"I'm all set," I said with a grin. "Everyone else?"

"Perfect," Rise nodded.

"Just fine," Kanji said as well. "I'm ready to kick some Shadow ass!"

"Alright then!" I turned to the door. "On three, we look cool and kick the door down!"

"Kick it down?" Rise asked. "What's the point of that?"

"I just said, to look cool."

"Oh. Okay."

"Okay, three! Two! One! NOW!" Rise's, Kanji's, and my leg smacked against the giant door, and effectively blew it off its hinges. Rushing into the room we saw one of those king Shadows that we've fought on the way up here, except it was a lot bigger than the others. It was just standing in the middle of the room, but the moment we entered its small eyes set upon us. "Alright, let's do this! Rise-chan, Kanji, circle around it! Give it no room to escape!"

"Gotcha!" they both replied as they ran around the king's sides. The Shadow, seemingly aware of this, looked between all three of us, but didn't bother to move.

"Guys, be careful," Teddie said to my classmates and I. "We don't know what this thing can do, even if it is weak."

"Let's try some stuff out then!" Rise's scythe went to her left side as her Persona card came floating down, and with one arm swept it across her to smash the card apart. Himiko appeared above her and, with a twirl of her rapier, a giant gust of green wind jutted out from the king. This, sadly, did absolutely nothing at all. "Oh, crap, wind doesn't work!"

"Then don't use it anymore!" Kanji shouted as he summoned his own Persona. Take-Mikazuchi appeared above him and slammed its lightning-bolt sword-thing onto the king. It did a considerable amount of damage, yet the Shadow chose to stand. "Damn, couldn't finish it!"

"Let me!" Wyvern appeared as the card before me turned into shards of glass. With a mighty roar, the king was covered in a sea of flame. That, unfortunately, also proved to be futile. In fact, it stood almost upright again. "W-What! Did it just absorb it?"

No one could answer my question as the king made its way over to me. For a royal figure, it was surprisingly quick. Its hand went back behind it and immediately went to slap me. It was too fast for me to dodge, and hit me square in the jaw. It didn't stop there, though. Its hand came back around and hit the other side of my jaw, and this thankfully made me get sent flying away from it.

"A-Andrew!" Kanji yelled as I hit the ground. I rolled along it and hit the wall with my legs up against it. Ignoring the pain (honestly it wasn't much), I looked back at the others. Kanji was using a Zionga to strike the Shadow while Rise had chose to rush over to me.

"H-Hey, you okay?" she asked when she got to me.

"Not bad…" I swung my legs to the side and, with her help, stood up. "Didn't really hurt much, to be honest."

"It hurt a _bit_."

"O-Okay, it did. Anyway, c'mon." I ran back over to the center of the room to see Kanji jump over a small red shockwave the king produced. "If fire won't work, then try some lightning!" I was about to summon my Persona, but then I opted to try something else. I charged up my right arm with electricity and shot it forward. It did just as I hopped: the electricity flew from my fingertips and hit the Shadow right in its giant forehead. The shock was enough to cause it to be sent backwards into a pillar supporting the ceiling, and when it hit it the king made a big crack in it. The Shadow was only almost dead, though, and fell to the floor onto its knees.

"I've got this one!" Rise cried. She decided to follow my lead and ran up to the king with a light blue hue surrounding her arm. It didn't see her coming, and when the girl smacked her open palm onto its face, ice quickly started covering it. The Shadow desperately tried to get away, but it wasn't long that its body was completely frozen over. "Whoa, I never expected it to actually work!" She took no more time to comment and sliced her scythe cleanly down the king's middle. There were now two ice sculptures of half a Shadow, but after her attack the Shadow quickly vanished into a fog and the statues collapsed to the ground.

"That was _quick_," Teddie announced his surprise as he came up to us. "Faster than I had thought. Good work, guys!"

"Ah, tha- Hey, wait a minute, you didn't help us at all!" I realized, bopping him on the head a little. "Didn't you say you could tell what the weaknesses of Shadows are?"

"I can! But it takes time! You guys beat it too quickly for me to actually scan it!"

"Did we?" Kanji asked, placing his riot shield by his leg. "Didn't seem like it was that short…"

"Well it was! You guys did great!"

"But that was hardly anything!" Rise said. "We finished that in no time at all!"

"It was pretty easy to get up to here, too…" I mused. I turned to the rest of my team, "How about we go somewhere else next time? Like Kanji's place?"

"Wha- _My_ place?" The big guy's eyes shot open. "W-Why my place? Can't we go to yours?"

"I-I suppose we could, but we don't know if we'll be strong enough to face them on our own. Your place is the next place our senpai went to, so it's probably a lot easier than my mansion."

"But we want to get _stronger_, right?"

"Uh, right…"

"Then we should go to the place that gives us a challenge!"

"…Dammit Kanji, stop being right." I sighed and placed my fists on my hips. "Alright, fine. Next time we come in here without any of our senpai, we'll go to my place.

"When will that be?" Rise asked.

"Um… I don't know, some other time. Not now though, I don't wanna go there."

"Then how about the next time we're all free? Whenever that will be."

"Okay, sounds good. But just remember: the Shadows in my mansion are gonna be _waaay_ stronger than the ones here."

"Uh, we know they'll be stronger," the girl said with a raised eyebrow. "That's why we're going there."

"S-Shut up."

* * *

**Hmm… I wonder if that was enough… Ah well. Next chapter will have the festival, and maybe even the watermelon scene if I can't think up anything else.**

**So, how did everyone find it? I'd really like to here your comments, please and thanks yous. Also, here's the list of incorrect answers I promised:**

**Fuuka  
Izanami  
****One of Souji's Personas  
Andy's mother  
Elizabeth  
Margaret **

**Like I said to those who PM'd me, there's a hint in the previous chapter regarding to who it is. Also, **_**remember to think outside the box****.**_** That's the only hint from me you're getting.**

**Okay, baaaaai.**


	25. Festival

**Back again, I see. Well, I'm glad that you're hear, whoever you are.**

**Reviews, reviews everywhere!**

**P4anonman:** They won't have a competition, but they will find out about their 'misadventures' at some point. Something else will happen then, though it'll hardly be related to the plot.

**Astrih Konnash:** I think I'll do Andy's bonus boss at some point, although I'm not sure what kind of Shadow it'll be. I'll have to get thinking on that... And my third playthrough hasn't really been getting much attention lately. ^^;

**anon:** Nah, Adachi won't have an omake. Since this story's from Andy's perspective, he only knows what's happening with him, not anyone else. And I don't think it's culture differences: at the beginning of the game, the group promises to not go into the TV world alone. Well, the first years never promised that, so I let them go wild :D

**Jharoz:** Well yeah he's a virgin. Both he and Rise are. I mean, they're fifteen/sixteen, although I guess age hardly matters...

**Hishin Trueflame:** I never went through the problem of not knowing who the killer was. I'm going to be perfectly honest: Fairly English Story ruined it for me :( I never even played Persona 4 when I first read it, and Adachi, Naoto, Izanami and everyone else got spoiled for me. I was _not_ a happy camper.

**Windmark:** Yeah, but what can you do? Rise's all over Japan, and Andy won't be able to 'erase' each calendar. So, sucks to be him.

**So yeah. I put that list down at the bottom again if anyone cares.**

**Disclaimer: I'm the owner of Andy. Everything else belongs to their respective owners and whatnot.**

* * *

**~Tuesday, August 16~  
****~11:50 AM~**

* * *

It'd probably be around this time that I'd just be waking up on any normal August day. I'd get up, have some breakfast, maybe get a shower, then waste the whole day in front of my TV screen, regardless of the weather. That would be the best way to spend a day.

But, alas, there's always something keeping me from having my own perfect world.

"Hey, Andrew! Quit daydreaming and bring this meal to table three!"

And that something, is my job.

"Right, right, sorry," I sighed as I grab the plates and whisk them away. Two servings of grilled steak, two salads, and two soft drinks were on the tray. The delicious aroma forced me to restrain myself from digging in. _I've been here for three hours doing nothing but serve customers and taking their dishes away. WHEN DO I GET MY BREAK?_

All throughout this week, there'll be some sort of play being shown in the food court of Junes. It started yesterday, actually, but Yosuke insisted Ted and I take the day off because of last week. After working one day with Souji and Chie, he immediately decided letting us off was a bad idea and called us in for today. I was… kinda sorta okay with it. I mean on one hand, the day I planned to make up (and out) with Rise was ruined. But on the other hand, **more money**.

I placed the tray of food onto the table, got thanked for bringing it, and returned to the kitchen. Teddie was busily cooking the food (in his bear costume no less) and the moment I walked up to him another tray was shoved in my face. "This is for table seven!" he told me. "Hurry up and give it to them, I've got more food for you to bring!"

"Gah, fine," I grumbled and took the tray. I quickly picked out table seven and briskly brought the food over. After more thanks, I walked back and saw Souji and Chie yelling at the top of their lungs. They were seemingly advertising different kinds of meals that the bear would be cooking, but I could already tell that they were starting to grow weary of it.

"Pick up the slack, Andrew," came Yosuke's voice as he walked by me with his own tray. "There're some empty dishes on table two. Go pick them up and bring them back to the kitchen."

I sighed. "Sure, alright." _You know, when I agreed to work today, I wasn't expecting to become a __**waiter**__._ Placing the plates, glasses, and whatever onto a the tray, I brought it back to the kitchen. There was a random employee or two washing the dishes and making them usable again, so I just put my set on the pile and made my way back out again.

Teddie gave me _another_ plate, and the table I was instructed to take it to was over by the elevators. When I walked over there and gave the customers their plates, the elevator doors opened and out stepped-

"Nanako-chan, Dojima-san?" I was surprised to see the two actually out here.

"Hi, Andy!" Nanako cheerfully greeted. _Good God that is cute._ "Is Big bro here?"

"Ah, yeah, he's-"

"Nanako-chan?" Souji was already walking over to us. "What're you guys doing here?" He, too, seemed genuinely surprised.

"Nanako wanted to come out here," Dojima sighed with a small smile. "She kept asking when she heard you were working here, and I just couldn't say no…"

I glanced down at Nanako's gleaming face as she held her big bro's hand. "I can understand that…" I chuckled. Souji and Nanako walked back to where he was standing with Chie, leaving me standing there with his uncle.

"I also passed Kanji Tatsumi and Rise Kujikawa on the way here," Dojima continued, this time to me. "I told them that you were all here, and they said that they'd come once they finish up at their own shops."

"Oh will they?" I replied. He nodded, I thanked him, and escorted him over to the others. After seating them, I went back to bring out more food to the customers, retrieve plates and glasses, and actually clean the tables and whatnot.

This continued for roughly fifteen to twenty minutes until Dojima's words came true.

"Andrew, stop staring out over the city. Get back to work."

"O-Oh, right. Sorry."

After another two or three minutes, it became clear that Rise, and maybe even Kanji, were on they're way here.

"What're you looking at, anyways?" Yosuke asked as he stepped up to me.

"Waiting for someone," I answered as I leaned over the railing. "Maybe two people."

"Who-"

I saw those two people coming around the corner of a building. I grinned and waved to them. The smaller one waved back energetically, while the taller one simply raised his arm. I also noted that the smaller one's hair was different than normal - not in twin tails _or_ long.

"Oh," Yosuke said simply. "Now I get it. Anyway, it's still not break time. C'mon."

"Aw man… Okay." After one last wave, I turned back around and did my part with helping out. Not much longer after that the elevators opened once again.

"Heeeeeey~!" came the call of a certain redhead. I turned around to look at her and was shocked to see a newer hairdo. She skipped over to me with my bleached-haired friend right behind her and pulled me into a hug when she got to me. "Good to see you again."

"Good to see you, too," I said, "but be careful. I've got food in my hands and I doubt you want it over you."

"Oh- Right, sorry." Rise backed away from me as Kanji reached us. "So! You like my hair?"

"It's…" It was a ponytail. And dear Lord was it fabulous. "…amazing, actually!"

She grinned brightly. "I figured you'd like it." She reached back and started stroking it. "Ever since last Monday, I've been trying out different hair styles to see what kinds looked good on me or not."

"And this looks _really_ good on you." _Honest to goodness, it really does._

"Thanks!"

"Man, it must suck having to work on a day like this," Kanji said, interrupting our kinda-sorta-mushy conversation.

"It does," I sighed. "I wish today would just end already. I've been here three hours and haven't gotten a break yet."

"ANDREW! Get back to work!"

"And it seems I won't have one any time soon." I glanced at the number on the tray in my hands, looked at the corresponding table, and turned back to my friends. "You guys wait right here. I've gotta bring this over, and then I'll come back and seat you."

"Okay, thank you!" Rise grinned while Kanji simply smiled and nodded.

After quickly bringing the food over to the table, I returned to see my friends chatting it up with my headphones-wearing senpai. "Oi, Yosuke-senpai, you shouldn't be taking breaks in the middle of work," I joked as I approached the group.

"Shut up," he responded with a wink. "Not like you have anything to say."

I sighed, "True, true…"

"Anyways, I... _suppose_ you can have one."

"Oh- Really? Sweet, thanks!"

"Just be ready to go back on in half an hour."

"Gotcha." Yosuke nodded, said bye to the others and walked back to the kitchen. I turned to Rise and Kanji and said, "Let's go get a seat. Walking around so much is really starting to hurt…"

"Heh. I know how _that_ feels like…" Rise mumbled.

We picked a table right next to the one Souji, Nanako and Dojima were sitting at. The three of them were talking to themselves (well, Nanako was listening) but when us first-years took our seats we got drafted into their conversations too. They were about different things, like what we've done over the summer and confirming the date of Yasogami High's reopening.

It was only occurring to me that summer holidays was almost over with. "Halfway through summer already, huh…?" I muttered to my classmates. "I know it's only for a month, but still, time's just a-flying."

"It is, isn't it?" Kanji sighed as he propped his elbows on the table. "Can't believe school will be starting in only a few weeks…"

"Aw, c'mon guys, don't get all depressed!" Rise said, looking between us. "It's not like school's _tomorrow_. There's still plenty of time left!"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," I said. "There _are_ fourteen days left… And plus there's that festival coming up on the twentieth."

"Oh, that's right!" Kanji remembered. "I completely forgot about that! Uh, what time is that, anyways?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I asked him.

"Wasn't really asking you."

"O-Oh. Sorry."

"Um…" Rise put a finger to her chin. "I'm not exactly sure. I think it starts at six or seven, and doesn't stop until twelve…? Oooor I could be totally wrong on that."

"Huh… Alright then."

"Why?" I asked him. "You got a curfew or something?"

"Wha- No, 'course I don't! I just wanted to know, that's all!"

"Alright, alright, chill, man."

"Hey… Don't reruns of Hello Kitty come on around those times on Saturdays?" Rise asked with a smirk.

"Really?" I blinked. Rise quickly glanced at me with a look that said, 'Play along, doofus.' "Ohhh yeah, I remember flicking through an episode one Saturday night!"

"Wh-Whaddaya goin' on about?" Kanji asked, glancing at both of us. Both mine and my girlfriend's smiles grew wider, and the tough guy next to us quickly looked scared. "Wha- No! No no no, I don't watch that show! I don't, seriously!"

"Heheh, that's some… suspiciously specific denial, there, Kanji," I chuckle under my breath. _DAMMIT I DID IT AGAIN DIDN'T I?_

"N-N-No! It's true, I totally don't watch that! Honestly!"

"You sure?" Rise giggled. "You're face is all red, you know."

"S-Shut up!"

"Moving along now," I said after my fit of laughs subsided, "what kinds of things are there at festivals? I know there's some goldfish catching or something, but I don't know much else."

"There're different kinds of stalls for a lot of different things," Rise explained after her own laughter stopped. "Like food stands, games, masks for sale… There's a lot more stuff, too, so I doubt it'll be early when we leave there."

"Huh… I'm getting a little excited for it now…!"

"Speaking of takoyaki…" Kanji mumbled before we heard a rather loud growl. "I'm getting hungry. _Hey, waiter_!"

Rise and I jumped a little at his shout. "D-Did you, uh, have to yell? We're right next to you."

"Yeah, but I'm hungry, and no one's around here to serve us."

"Well wait for someone to come around instead of yelling halfway across town."

"But I'm hungry now!"

I sighed, seeing as there was no point in arguing any longer since he would just continue whining. Plus, Yosuke just happened to walk up at that very moment. "What is it?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"I want some grilled stake, thank you very much," Kanji ordered with a grin.

Yosuke sighed as well. "Fine." He turned to Rise and I. "You two want anything?"

"I'll have the same as him, please and thank you," I said.

"Nothing for me, thanks. I just ate" Rise said. "Although, I'll have a glass of water, please."

"Sure thing. I'll be back with them." Yosuke left and walked back to the kitchen.

"So," I started a new conversation. "Anyone start their summer homework yet?"

"No, obviously," was the reply from both members of the table.

"How the heck did I not see _that_ coming," I said sarcastically. "You guys think we should get together some time and work on it?"

"That… may be good," Rise nodded. "I looked over a bit of it earlier this morning, and there are a few questions that seemed… terrifying."

"Yikes… Then working on it together may be a good idea after all…"

"Yeah, and _this_ time," Kanji said sternly, "you're helping me with it, too."

"Sorry, Kanji," Rise sighed, glaring at the taller boy. "But Andrew-kun and I-"

"Rise-chan, c'mon now," I interrupted. "I bailed out on Kanji last time he asked me to help, and now he needs all the help he can get. It just wouldn't sit right with me if I don't help him."

The girl seemed shocked. "Wha-! B-But-!"

"Alright!" Kanji stood and pumped a fist in the air. "Thanks a million, Andrew! I owe you big time!"

"Yeah, I know. But don't just suddenly stand and shout, you're drawing attention to us."

"Uh- Oh, crap, sorry!" Kanji quickly sat back down again, but his grin didn't waver. "But, man, _finally_ my marks'll go up now thanks to you."

"Aw, please, I'm not _that_ smart. Well… I did make top ten on the exams, but still, that was nothing."

"Hell yeah it was something! Only a handful of people can say that they ever made top ten before."

"And I'm willing to bet _you're _not one of them," Rise replied rather harshly.

"Eh? W-Whaddaya mean by that?"

"…Nothing."

I blinked at Rise, but she didn't say anything else, so I turned to Kanji. "What kinds of things are the questions asking, anyways?" I asked him.

"Oh, uh, just some things that were on the exams, like those math problems and stuff."

"So, easy stuff mixed with hard stuff? Hopefully we can get it all done..."

"Yeah. We should probably meet up soon so we can get 'em done and over with."

"Mhm. That may be best. When should we meet up?"

"How about never?" I heard Rise mumble. I shifted my line of sight to her to see her looking off to the side. Her brow was furrowed and there was a rather deep frown on her face.

"…Hey, Rise-chan, you okay?" I asked out of concern.

Rise's head immediately turned to me and- _Oh geez that is one angry glare._ "Andrew-kun, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Huh? Uh, y-yeah, sure." Without another word Rise rose from the table and walked towards the other side of the food court. I followed her, and when she reached the railings she turned around.

"Why the hell did you do that?" she whispered.

"What... What do you mean?" I replied. "I only offered to help him with his school work."

"I was planning on it just being the two of us working together!" _Oh crap, she is PISSED._ "We were going to use that time to make up for last week!"

"W-What? Well- Then how the hell was _I_ supposed to know about that? You never said anything about it!"

"That's because we were sitting right next to everyone! And plus, it wasn't even brought up then."

"Then you could've said it when we were at Daidara's yesterday! If I had known that you planned that I wouldn't of told him!" _I can't believe this! She's blaming me for something I did without realizing that I was doing it! Or… s-something._

"I just said, I looked through the homework this morning, so I only thought of it then! I was going to tell you later but you promised to him too fast!"

"You could've e-mailed me!"

"My phone was dead!"

"Then you could've called me on your house phone!"

"Grandma was on it!"

"All morning?"

"Since I got up, around eleven!"

"I thought you said _nine_ was late for you!"

"For Grandma!"

"Well-" _Geez, why the hell are we fighting! Not really sure if I'm actually to blame, but I don't want to be arguing with her…_ "I'm, um… I'm… sorry."

"And another-! ...W-Wait, what?"

"I said I'm sorry. Y-You're right, I didn't even think to consider us… I just asked him right away, though I probably shouldn't've… Although it _is_ true that Kanji does need help…"

Rise's angry eyes turned into not-as-angry eyes. "…Yeah, I… guess he does… But when will we make up for last week then? And don't say we won't, because we will!"

"Um, uh…" _Quick I need an idea!_

'_**How should **_**I**_** know?'**_

_I don't know you're the smarter of us! Gah, think think think think think think think think GOT IT._ "How about this? During the festival, we ditch the others and go somewhere else?"

And now those not-as-angry eyes turned into a look of surprise. "Somewhere else? Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, of course. Although it may have to be a little ways away so no one catches us…"

"Mmm…" Rise lowered her head in thought. "I don't really care where… But we should stick around there for a bit, so we don't seem suspicious or anything."

"Right, right… And I guess we'll decide where we'll go when the time comes."

"Yeah…"

I turned my head around to our table and saw Kanji munching away at a steak. _Huh, that was fast…_ "Anyways, let's go back now," I said as I turned back to her. "The food's at our table now and- Oof!"

"I'm sorry, Andrew-kun," Rise quickly said into my chest. "That was stupid of me, getting angry at you like that. You didn't know what I was going to do, so there was no actual need for me to get mad. I just… acted without thinking. …Can you forgive me?"

"…Of course I can." My arms inched their way to her back. I realized that there was a chance that everyone in the food court was watching, but at that moment I didn't care. "I'd never be able to not forgive you for anything."

"Thanks… I love you."

"I... um, love you, too." And _now_ I started to care about the people behind me. "N-Now come on, people are most likely staring at us, and my food's probably getting cold. Plus, I don't want to run the risk of Kanji stealing it."

"Heheh… He might do that… Okay, let's go." She quickly kissed my lips and started to walk back to the tables. I began to follow her, but she immediately turned her head back to me and said, "By the way, I know that you aren't really sorry. You just said that to stop the argument."

"H-Huh? You knew?"

"Well yeah. Since I'm an actress, I'm also good at figuring out whether or not someone's telling the truth."

"Ohh… I see."

"So you better not lie to me again."

"As you wish, your _highness_."

"What did I just say? Don't lie to me!"

* * *

**~Saturday, August 20~  
****~8:30 PM~**

* * *

The festival was already underway by the time us five dudes got there. The sky was dark, yet it was easy to see everything that was there: plenty of stands and stalls with a lot of different things, like a shooting game, a hot dog stand, and (of course) goldfish catching. There were colorful lights hung everywhere, and there were a lot of women already dressed in their yukata.

"Funny…" Yosuke said. We all stopped in the middle of the road to let him speak. "I remember this festival being a lot more crowded… Is it because of the murders?"

"Yeah, there ain't that many people here this year…" Kanji agreed, looking at the near-empty brick path. "Well, I guess you can't blame people for being scared…"

"I haven't seen any reporters around, either," Souji added. "It's amazing how they can just up and vanish like that after stirring up so much trouble."

"I kind of like having thin crowds," I told them. "Means we're actually able to move around here and not bump into anyone."

"That's true, but not important right now," Kanji said. "What _is_ important right now is that we get some ikayaki!"

"Ooh, I wanna get some too!" Teddie cheered behind us. "Kanji, what's ikayaki?"

"What? You want some without even knowing what it is?" I asked him with a chuckle. "…Actually, I want some too."

"And I'm willing to bet you've never had any before, either," Yosuke said with a smirk.

"That's why I want to try some." After skimming the stands, my eyes landed on one in particular. "Oh oh oh, no wait, they've got ice cream here! Screw ikayaki, I'm having some of that!" I turned to everyone else there. "Anyone got any money?"

"What?" Souji raised an eyebrow. "You didn't bring any money for yourself?"

"Well, uh, I did, but I don't want to spend too much… Eheheh…"

"No one's gonna lend you money now that you've said that," Kanji sighed.

I sighed as well, "Yeah, I guess that's true…"

The five of us walked over to the ice cream stand, which just so happened to be right next to the ikayaki stand. Teddie, Kanji and Yosuke bought some ikayaki, while Souji settled for some ice cream with me. He ordered strawberry while I ordered my personal favorite, mint chocolate chip. We began to eat our food and walk back towards the front of the shrine when all of a sudden we stopped and stared. The four girls walked up to us, all of them wearing different colors of yukata. Rise was wearing a hot pink and orange one, Yukiko had a purple and pink one, Chie had white and yellow, and Nanako had bright pink and red. And they all looked **stunning**, even the littlest one. _W-Whoa._

"Sorry we took so long," Chie said when they reached us.

"It took us some time to get dressed," Yukiko told us.

"You have to wrap towels inside," Rise said, picking at one end of her dress, "so they're not as breezy as everyone says."

"It's… kinda hard to walk…" Nanako commented with a small smile.

"You look really cute in that, Nanako-chan!" Souji said to his little sister. The girl just blushed and giggled at that.

"Nana-chan, you look so cute!" Teddie said with a grin. "I'm head over heels for you!" _What? __Oh, geez, I can't tell if he's being serious or not…_

"Thank you," Nanako giggled some more.

"So, guys," Rise asked us. "How do we look? Does the sight make your hearts skip a beat?"

_Okay, you know how I said way back when that I didn't really care for yukata?_

'_**Yes. Why?'**_

…_I have suddenly changed my mind._ "You look… amazing, Rise-chan!" I told her honestly. It really did look beautiful on her. _Of course, they all look beautiful, but I can't say that._

"Aww, thanks!" Rise's smile grew from ear to ear, and I'm pretty sure she blushed, too.

"Okay, _that_ was obvious enough," Chie chuckled. She turned to the other males in our group. "What about you guys? What do _you_ think of the rest of us?"

"Gorgeous." Souji to Yukiko.

"U-Um… T-Thank you…"

"Ehh… A-Alright, I guess." Yosuke to Chie.

"Wait, what do you mean 'you guess'?"

"You all look breathtaking!" Teddie to everyone. _How the hell did I know he was going to say that?_

And Kanji was the only one who didn't say anything. We all noticed this and turned to him to see him looking away in embarrassment. Yosuke spoke first. "Kanji? What're you looking away for? Don't tell me you're ashamed to look! What are you, a monk…?"

"Th-That ain't it!" Kanji quickly answered without looking at us. "It's just… Um, uh…"

"What, can't think of anything?" I asked with a chuckle.

"N-No! It's not like that!"

"Then what?" Rise laughed along with me.

"Err-!"

Before he could get a chance to answer, a voice called out from the street. We all turned to see Dojima walking up to us with a coat slung over his shoulder and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Hey," the older man started. "Thanks for looking after her."

"Not a problem, Uncle," Souji said to him with a smile. "We all had fun tonight."

Nanako walked up to her father and held out the bag she was carrying. "Look, Dad! They bought me cotton candy!"

Dojima smiled down at her. "Did they now?" He bent down to the little girl's height, started rubbing her hair, and pointed back towards one of the games. "Alright then, you wanna go over and do the target prac- I-I mean, game with me?"

Nanako's face beamed with excitement. "Uh-huh! Let's go!" _DAMMIT I WANT A LITTLE SISTER NOW._

Souji's uncle stood up and looked back at us. "I'll take care of Nanako from here. It's only a few times a year that this town gets charged up like this. You kids should go and have fun." He turned around, said "Well, see you all later," and left towards that shooting game. Nanako followed him, but stopped and waved good-bye. Everyone waved back to her.

When the two of them were gone, Teddie suddenly spoke up. "Hmmm… A summer festival… Hrrrmmm…" We all turned to look at him. With a hand on his chin and a smirk on his face he said, "A couple, walking together at a festival… Unused to wearing it, the girl's yukata comes loose… Summer has begun."

"What kinda tagline is _that_?" Chie whispered under her breath.

Teddie suddenly raised his arms into the air. "We gotta go two-by-two! Raaawr!"

_Confusion all around, go!_ Every human in our group looked at each other in befuddlement, and looked back at the bear. "Two-by-two…?" Yukiko repeated.

"See, I've been thinking," Teddie replied as-a-matter-of-factly. "It's summer, you're in yukata, and we're at a festival. It's just wrong for guys and girls to be walking in a huge group like this! We should couple up while we're here! It's the natural way of things!"

"It is?" I asked. "Seriously?" _Although I have to admit I like that idea… Works well with Rise-chan's and my plan._

"Wh-What the hell are you blabbin' about!" Kanji nearly flipped his lid. He even looked ready to faint, too.

"I agree with Teddie!" Rise suddenly cried. Everyone in the group (besides me and the bear) turned their heads in surprise and shock, but mostly shock. The redhead looked at all of them with a perplexed face. "C'mon, guys… Why wear yukata in the first place? So we have memories we can remember fondly, right?" Her eyes quickly found their way to me. "So we should pair off right away!" _I AGREE WITH THIS GIRL._

Chie and Yukiko slowly turned their heads toward one another. "Rise…" Chie whispered. "What a terrifying girl!" She scratched her head and said, "You do got a point though… Good memories…"

"I-I'm fine with this, too." Yukiko nodded. "Count me in."

Chie nodded to her, and turned back to the other guys. "Alright… Y-You guys decide how we'll split up."

My senpai and Kanji blinked in surprise. "U-Us…?" Souji asked.

"W-Why us?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow to the girls. He quickly shook his head. "W-Well, I guess that doesn't really matter…"

The four guys nodded to themselves and walked back a bit, but I didn't go with them. I turned to the girls and chuckled a little. "I'm pretty sure I already know who I'm pairing up with."

Chie huffed slightly. "Yeah, I'm sure all of us know."

Rise grinned, bobbed over to me, and wrapped her hands around my arm. "It's obvious who's going with you. Now c'mon, let's stop wasting time! There's a lot of things to do here and we don't have long before we have to leave!"

"Heh, you got it!" I turned around to face the shrine, which also forced Rise to swing around to my other side. I glanced back to our female senpai and said, "We'll see you guys later, okay?"

Yukiko glanced over to the others, who were still huddled up. "So it's four guys for two girls now, huh…? How is that going to work out?"

"I guess two of them'll be left out," Chie responded to her.

"Or they could decide to have two guys with one girl in each group," Rise said. "I know Teddie wouldn't mind who he's with, but the others…"

"They wouldn't seriously do that, would they?" the brown haired girl asked with a slight frown.

"You never know," I told her. "They seem like the kind of guys to actually do that."

"It's decided!" Teddie announced as he walked up to Chie and Yukiko. "I'm going with both of you!"

Both senpai put on confused looks. "What do you mean?" Chie asked.

"Oh, well, there were too many guys, so someone would have been left out…" He dawned a confident smirk. "I just couldn't let that happen." _Was… Wait, were there just __**sparkles**__ coming out of his eyes?_

"_**WHAT!**_" came the cries of Souji and Yosuke in unison. Kanji just didn't seem to bother with it.

"You little-!" my headphones-wearing senpai growled at the bear.

"T-That's not fair though!" Souji yelled, somewhat dumbstruck.

I couldn't help but laugh at their misery.

"Ohh, I see," Chie nodded with a small smile.

"You're so kind, Teddie…" Yukiko told him, although I'd bet dollars to donuts she was being sarcastic.

"That was a good decision you made, Ted," Rise told the blondie. "Hope you guys have fun, now!"

"Right! See you guys later!" Teddie waved vigorously to the rest of us, and walked down the shrine's path with Chie and Yukiko.

And my male senpai were left speechless, looking at them leave. I think Yosuke's eye twitched, too. "…We fail, huh?" said senpai remarked.

"That… was an _epic_ fail…" Souji said as he let out a big sigh.

I was still laughing at this.

"Shut up, Andrew!" Yosuke yelled as he threw his ikayaki at me.

"H-Hey!" I yelled as I ducked under the flying food. "That's dangerous, y'know! That could've poked my eye out!"

"I was hoping it would've! Now I don't have anything to eat!"

"Well that's your own fault, senpai!" Rise yelled at him. She tugged on my arm as she started walking forwards. "C'mon, Andrew-kun, we're going."

"Right." I grinned as we passed the others. "Have fun guys."

"Shut up!"

"H-Hey, HEY!" Chie's voice called out from behind us. "Hands off my corn, Ted!"

"Ahh!" Yukiko cried. "Teddie, you got ketchup on my yukata!"

It was apparent none of the senpai were having a good time. _Must keep laughter in must keep laughter in._

* * *

To be blatantly honest, there weren't many things at the festival. The area around the shrine wasn't even that big compared to the one's I've seen on the internet or in the school's text books. But out of the handful of stalls set up, there _were_ a variety of things to do, such as mask purchasing, that shooting game Nanako and Dojima played, the goldfish catching… Actually, there wasn't even much out of _that_.

After getting some food, playing some games, and seeing Teddie get slapped by two different girls, Rise and I chose to leave at that moment.

"But where will we go?" my girlfriend asked as we sat in front of the shrine, trying to decide.

"Umm… I dunno, really. I think it should be somewhere nice…"

"Well, yeah, obviously it'd have to be a nice place. How about… err… uhmm… OH!" She quickly shot to her feet. "I know! The hill overlooking Inaba!"

"The hill…?"

"Yeah! I doubt anyone would be there because of the festival-"

"But there's hardly anyone here."

"Exactly. If there's no one at the festival, they must all be home. Why waste time anywhere else than the festival when it's here, right?"

"Ohhh, I getcha."

"Anyways, no one will be there, we'll be all alone, and we'll have a great view of the town at night!"

"Well, those first two things were practically the same, but I'm not complaining! Let's go, like, now!"

"Right!" As I stood up, Rise grabbed onto my hand and started dragging me out of the shrine. Luckily, all of our friends were busy with whatever they were doing to notice us run by, so we were in the clear. We quickly made our way down to the bus and actually reached it as it was pulling into the bus stop. We made it to the hill not long after quarter after nine, and when we got to the very top, we found out that Rise had been right: not a soul was there.

"Huh," I spoke as we walked towards the table. "There really is no one here. You were right."

"Aren't I always?"

"Nope. This is the first time."

"Oh is it? Then who said that fighting the Shadow in Yukiko's castle was better than going for the one in your mansion?"

"Um. You."

"Mm-hm. And how about… How about, um… W-Well, nothing else comes to mind right now, but I know there were times when I was right!"

"Suuure there are."

"Shut up! There _are_ times, dammit."

"Haha! You're so cute when you're angry!"

Rise chose to stick her tongue at me at that. I laughed a bit more, but then turned my attention to the view.

And by God, was that an amazing view.

Practically every single building in Inaba was producing some sort of light, and they all shone brightly together. The shrine and Junes were easy to pick out, but everything else was just one big blob of yellows, whites and reds. It was as if the whole town was partying because of the festival.

"Isn't the view beautiful?" Rise asked me. She walked up right beside me and leaned on my arm. "I've never been up here at night before, so this is my first time seeing it like this…"

"It… really _is _beautiful…"

"I know, right?" She paused, and then said, "Hey, was the city you came from as nice as this?"

"Not in a long shot. There wasn't really any hills to overlook the city around where I lived, and even if there were the skyscrapers would get in the way…"

"Wow, really? You must've been missing out on this…"

"Yeah, I was…" A small smile formed. "But I'm not anymore, thankfully." And I unconsciously pulled Rise closer to me. I don't think she was expecting that, according to her little gasp, but she quickly snuggled into me afterwards. "So… How do we make up for me not being with you at all for the last two weeks?" Did I forget to mention I worked all of this week as well? Oh well, _**money!**_

"We just stay in each other's company for a good five or six hours."

"I see. Works for me then." Pulling her even more closer, I remembered that she wasn't wearing her normal attire. "Hey, stand back for a second."

"Hm? Why?"

"I never actually got a good look at your yukata. I'd like to see it, if you don't mind."

"Aww, but that means I have to let go of you…"

"We all have to make sacrifices at some point. You just have to learn to live with them."

"...You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Nah. Too many games."

She giggled. "Alright, I'll step back." After squeezing me just a teensy bit tighter, Rise walked a bit backwards and spun around on the spot. "So? How does it look?"

"It looks like… you're rather good at modelling."

"Yeah. Of course I am."

"Heh, true."

The yukata looked… really good on her. And I mean _really_ good. As if she always wore it and it was one of her everyday clothes. All throughout the thing there were designs of flowers outlined in red, with the centers of them colored yellow. The sash tied around her waist was a bright orange, and there were wavy patterns going along its edges. All in all, _sexy._ ...Somehow.

She also chose to have her hair tied in their famous twin-tailed form. "Sticking with the original hairstyle this evening, ma'am?"

"Why yes. I've tried _thousands_ of different 'dos since last Monday, and yet I've always been fond of this style."

"I know this style suits you best, but I can't help but love your hair down. And that ponytail, I guess."

"Ugh, don't tell me you have _another_ fetish for those."

"Sh… Shut up."

"And you still haven't commented on the yukata yet!"

"It looks awesome. It's like… it was made specifically for you."

"Oh, it was. I had to wear it in a scene for a movie before, and I was allowed to keep it afterwards."

"Ohhh… Must've been a good seamstress, 'cause it looks amazing on you."

Rise giggled and walked back over to me. "Let's sit down," she said. "My feet are killing me…"

"As you wish." Without any warning, I slid her off her feet and into my arms. She yelped when I did so, and I quickly walked back towards the table that was there.

"Why do you do that?" she asked me as she put her arms around my neck for support.

"I dunno. The way you screamed just then sounded cute, maybe?"

"You should stop that. One of these days you're just going to drop me and I'll land on my butt and it'll hurt."

_But… wouldn't you just bounce back up __**because**__ of your butt? Heheheh. Heh._

'_**You are rather sick-minded.'**_

_I know I am._ "I wouldn't drop you just like that. I'd make sure that you were over something nice and soft and drop you. Or maybe even a cliff. Who knows?"

"You have a sick sense of humor."

"So I've been told."

I sat down on one of the benches so the two of us could face Inaba and its spectacular light show. I hadn't noticed till now, but there were also a couple of lights moving along the roads. Obviously vehicles.

"Hey, Andrew-kun?"

"Hm?"

"You've never talked about your brother much, have you?"

"…Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I'm just curious."

"I'd… rather not talk about him."

"Why's that? Is it because of what senpai said?"

"That I'm jealous of him?"

"Mhm."

"Well, I suppose the reason is… half of that."

"What's the other half?"

"He's also a very large douchebag."

"H-He is? How so?"

I sighed. "He's a self-centered and cocky prick who always thinks of himself. He believes he's this… know-it-all hotshot that only has time for him and no one else. He's rude to me, he calls me names, he insults me whenever I talk to him. Of course, he acts all nice whenever mom and dad are around, which makes him even _more_ of a dick…"

Rise was speechless. "B-But… I never heard any of that from the others…"

"That's because my Shadow didn't say anything about that. What I never accepted before was my jealousy towards him. My hatred of him, I already admitted to myself. And in my books, jealousy and hatred are two very different things."

"…I see… So, I'm assuming he's older than you, since he's always picking on you?"

"Yep. By two years."

"Oh, so he's older than our senpai then."

"Yeah…" I shook my head. "Let's… just talk about something less depressing, 'kay?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Um… What's your favorite color?"

"…The hell kind of question is that?"

"One I haven't asked you before. So answer, please."

"Um… Well, I guess it's a tie between red and pink, but I think I favor red more."

"Really? A tie?"

"Yeah? There's nothing strange about that."

"I never said there was."

"You were implying that there was."

"Okay, so maybe I was. So what? What can you do about it?"

"I can… Oh! Smother you." She shifted her body so that she, too, was sitting up and facing me. She smirked, leaned to me and kissed me. She held it there for the longest of times, but I remained not-smothered since I had a nose.

I pushed away from her. "I can breath through my nose, y'know."

"…Oh right."

And then she squeezed my nostrils together with one hand and resumed kissing me. _H-HEY!_ I wasn't expecting that, so I didn't have a breath saved up. I tried to push her away, but her other hand was locked firmly around my neck. _OI, OI, OI! I CAN'T BREATH! _It was obvious Rise was getting some sick and twisted joy out of this. I tried slamming the table to get her to stop, but she kept on going. Grabbing onto the hand pinching my nose and trying to pull it away was futile, since she'd just pinch _harder_. Tickling didn't help, either, and that's basically her weak point.

I was running out of air, and fast. And I could only do the one thing my mind concluded that would stop her.

"_MFF_!" Rise quickly stopped the kiss and leapt off of me in shock. "_W-W-What the hell did you just do!_"

"I had to… get you off me…" I gasped for breath.

"You didn't have to _grope_ me!"

"You wouldn't get off…! I couldn't breath!"

"W-Well-!" She paused. _Haha, you can't beat suffocation with anything else! I think_. "I-I… guess I _was _going a little too far… Sorry…"

My breath was slowly returning to me. "Don't worry about it… Just don't be as sadistic next time…"

"R-Right…" She slowly walked back to me and got on my lap again. "Y-You, um… wanna start over?"

A chuckle escaped me. "Please and thank you…"

**

* * *

No watermelon this time. :'( Oh well, next chapter. Maybe. Not really sure if that was how Rise's yukata was actually designed, but she only showed up with it on only once in the game, so I just took a wild guess.**

**Here's that list again if anyone cares:**

**Fuuka  
Izanami  
Souji's persona  
Andy's mom  
Elizabeth  
Margaret  
P3's FeMC  
****Nanako's mom **

**I gave another hint to the last person to PM me (Windmark), so here it is to everyone else: this person has appeared in this story already. Not saying where or when, just that she's had more than one appearance.**

**Okay, LATERS.**


	26. Watermelons

...**OKAY.**

**It seems that the answer to the mystery voice has been revealed. If you haven't read the reviews and don't want it spoiled, I suggest skipping over this part and start reading the chapter _NOW._**

**So, yeah. It was the teacher. I probably shouldn't have put such an obvious hint, but, oh well. Not much I can do about it now. But no more speculation on it! If people keep asking, the story will be spoiled for you all! And I'm sure you don't want that, now don't you.**

**ONE THING TO NOTE: the only thing I own regarding her is her name, and her status as a teacher. I in no way claim the character herself, since I did not create her, and thus she is _NOT_ an OC. Just had to clear that up before anyone mistakes her for mine.**

**ANYWAYS. Enough with these long and pointless paragraphs, let's go to these wonderful reviews!**

**P4anonman:** I'm glad you're liking the pairing! Doing my best to make it seem like it'd fit story-wise, with their personalities 'n all.

**Hishin Trueflame:** Yes, yes it was. But that's all you know! Her exact role in the story will not be figured out soon at all! Mwahahaha!

**Jharoz:** I think you're comment did fly over my head. Eheheh. My bad. Anyways, hooray Shinji! Have fun in heaven, 'n stuff. And I wonder what this next thing will be...?

**Windmark:** Andy has never met Souji's teacher. ...Yet. But don't worry, no teacher-student scoring will be done. Eeeewww... *shudders*

**TenshiReike:** Why thank you!

**WHOA. Just realized this story now has _EXACTLY_**** one hundred reviews! Thank you, everyone! :D**

******Disclaimer: Andy's family and the name Omukay are mine. The rest belongs to their respective owners.**

* * *

**~Sunday, August 21~  
****~1:30 PM~**

* * *

My first-year friends and I had chosen the day after the festival to work on some of our summer homework. I haven't had a decent look at it, but according to them there's a lot to be done, so we decided to start working on it a little bit every day before school started again.

The location we chose was the Samegawa Flood Plain, mainly because there were still party-goers at the shrine next door to Kanji's, Rise didn't exactly want to disturb her grandmother as she watched over the shop, and Ted would've been a rather large pain in the ass if we went to the inn. Kanji also suggested we try the Junes food court, but I told him that it would be too hard to concentrate with the store's regular customers.

When I reached the river, Rise and Kanji were already there. They had all of their homework with them, but not a thing was being worked at. Instead, they were casually talking to each other. The moment they came into view Rise turned around and waved, as did Kanji shortly after. I waved back, and when I reached the table I slammed my books on it, causing the two to jump in surprise.

"Why aren't you two working?" I asked as I crossed my arms and put on a stern face.

"We were… waiting for you?" Kanji asked as his eyebrow rose. "We probably wouldn't be able to get anything done without your help."

"Well, ex_cuse_ me!" Rise shouted, glaring at the taller boy. "I'd be fine with this stuff! I was just being courteous and waiting for Andrew-kun to arrive."

"Oh, is that so?" I asked as I sat down next to her. "Most times you'd be chastising me for being late or the last one to get here."

"I've, um… recently had a change of heart. Yeah, I've realized that everyone needs a different amount of time to get ready, sooo there's really no need for me to get angry over that."

"…Uh-huh." I glanced over to her stack of books and papers. "So is that why there's a sheet in that book that says 'Ask Andrew-kun these questions'?"

"Wha-!" Her head turned around and saw the top of that piece of paper. She quickly tried to cover that up with her arms, but the damage had already been done. "Dammit! Okay, _fine_, I need some help, too…"

"Afraid to admit that you can't handle it by yourself?" Kanji chuckled.

"I'm not! I just don't like having to depend on someone for help, even with school work…"

"Have you tried doing some work by yourself?" I asked her.

"Well, yeah obviously, though there weren't many problems I could do on my own. Maybe… At least ten or eleven, I know that."

"How many questions are there, anyways?"

"They aren't numbered, they're just there," Kanji answered. "Gotta do 'em one-by-one."

I sighed and took out the huge list of assigned questions. It had numbers on them, going straight down and on the back side of it, sometimes being categorized by the subject they were associated with. And there were probably two or three more pages stapled to the back of it, all of which had numbers lining it. "Holy motherfreller, this is going to take a while."

"_M-Mazz-ur-rue… fu-reh-rah?_" Rise tried to repeat as her eyebrows furrowed. _Wait, did I just say that in English?_ "Wh-What's that?"

"N-Nothing you need to worry yourself about. Now come one, let's get at this. We'll start with the harder stuff and work our way down from there."

"Aww! Seriously!" Kanji groaned and hung his head back. "Man, this is gonna suck."

"Don't whine about it! We're all suffering the same punishment for being first-year students, so just grin and bear it." All of a sudden Rise started to hold back a giggle. "What're you laughing at now?"

"N-Nothing, nothing," she chuckled. "It's just… That sounds like something Teddie would say."

"…'Grin and bear it'?" _OHHHHH now I get it._ "Pft, yeah, it does…"

Kanji himself was laughing slightly too, but he quickly cleared his throat and looked up at us with a serious look. "C'mon now, let's start before we all start spouting bad puns like that."

"Right, right, let's get to work. First: math."

"Alright, let's do it!" Rise was oddly suddenly pumped up to do this. She whipped out her math book, opened it to the correct page, and looked at the first question. She then immediately turned to me with a sheepish expression. "H-Help me…?"

I sighed, yet chuckled at the same time. "Already?"

"I-It's one that was covered before I came back to Inaba…"

"You're hopeless, you know that?"

"Shut up! Let's see _you_ answer that question!"

"Alright, let's see it."

"First question on page seventy-two!"

"Seventy-two, seventy-two…" I flipped through the pages and eventually came across it. "Ah, here it is." _Let's see… You do this, then that, then that thing again, and_… "The answer is fifty-four."

"…W-Wha-!" Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. "Bu- Wha-What! H-How-!"

_Was she not expecting me to get it so quickly…?_ "You just gotta think it out. See?" I pointed out the key steps in that specific problem to her. "When you break it down, it's actually kind of easy."

"Easy for _you, _not for _me_!" Rise quickly looked through the following questions, and after a minute slammed the book shut. "Ugh, this stuff is way too hard! I'm never gonna be able to figure this out on my own!" And then she decided to send me some pain by smashing her head onto the table.

_OW. _"Please, don't do that, Rise-chan. That hurts."

"I don't care... You deserve this pain for being so smart."

_*SLAM*_

"Ow."

_*SLAM*_

"Ow."

_*SLAM*_

"Ow."

_*SLAM*_

"Okay, _STOP!_"

Just before her forehead could hit the table again, I put my hands on her head and made it halt in its descent. Rise remained silent as I pulled her back into a sitting position, although she was attempting to resist by trying to force her head back down again. She grunted as I pulled her head up, and when I finally got her back sitting upright, she glared at me with one of the most annoyed expressions I've ever seen on her. _Wait, no, that's just her normal annoyed look._

"You, uhhhh… You got a bump growin' on your forehead now," I told her while trying not to laugh. She gasped and blushed as her hands flew to her forehead in an attempt to cover it up. "D-Don't worry, it's not that big. I'm sure it'll be gone by the time school starts again."

Rise remained silent before sighing and removing her hands. _Good golly, that actually __**is**__ pretty big._ "You'd better be right, Andrew-kun… An idol can't go into a public place looking like this…"

_IDEA._ "M-Maybe you could wrap it in bandages again…?"

"Mm… Or maybe I just don't leave the house at all…?"

_WHAAAT._ "I-I… I guess that could work too."

Rise only nodded to that, and then looked across the table to see Kanji looking down at his work. "Huh… You'd think after all that, we would've caused Kanji to get distracted."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's true… Strange, I didn't think he'd be this focused… on his… work…?" Now that I looked at him, I noticed he was only looking down, not writing, or even reading anything. He was just face down over a blank sheet of paper in his notebook. "…Heeeey, wait a minute…"

"What?" Rise asked, turning to me.

I smirked. "Just watch." I carefully placed my hands on the table and started to lean forward towards him. When I was close enough, I brought my hands up, clapped them together repeatedly and screamed, "_**OI, KANJIIIIII!**_"

"_**WHA-!**_" Kanji's head suddenly shot up and his whole body jerked away from the table. "Whoa, WHOA, _WHOA, __**WHOA!**_" His arms started flailing in large circles as he fell backwards and crash landed right on the cemented flooring. It sounded like it hurt, since there was a loud smack when he hit it. It even made me wince at him.

"…Mornin'," I said to him as I peered over the table. Rise stood and looked over it as well. "Have a nice nap, bud?"

"W-What the hell was that for?" Kanji asked through gripped teeth without even looking at me. His back was completely against the cement, yet his head was lying over it and onto the steps leading down to the grass. His legs were still over his seat, and I bet with enough effort he'd be able to pull himself back up without using his arms.

"You were sleeping on the job, so I had to wake you."

"But did ya hafta scare- I, uh, mean, surprise me like that?"

"I've noticed you've been falling asleep a few times when we all hang out, so I just wanted to have some fun. Though it looked like it hurt a bit…"

"Of course it hurt! I hit my neck on a stone step's corner! What do you think would've happened!"

"Whoa, okay, calm down man! I'm sorry about that!"

He breathed in, then out, in an effort to calm himself down. "…Feh." Kanji pushed himself up off the ground and crawled back onto the bench. He huffed out another breath as he rubbed his neck and sat back down. "My neck'll hurt like frickin' hell for a long time now…"

"Heeeey…" Rise suddenly spoke up, her face in deep thought. "Both of us have injuries right now... so-"

"Huh?" Kanji looked up at the redhead in surprise. "Whaddaya mean?"

Rise pointed to her forehead. "I banged my head against the table and got a bump."

"…When was that?"

"Probably when you fell asleep. When'd you doze off?

"Um… Last thing I remember was… Andrew trying to figure out that question."

"You fell asleep _that_ quickly?" I raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't even a _minute_ after we started!"

"Well, um… I got bored right away… And I'm a heavy sleeper…?"

"I… guess that makes sense…"

"But…" Rise still seemed confused. "How the hell can you sleep through those loud slams? I hit my head, like, four times-"

"Five," I corrected her.

"Five, whatever. And they all could've woken up the neighbourhood. If it was, y'know, dark out and they were actually asleep…"

"I don't know… Guess I was just knocked out?"

"Must've been," I nodded to him. "They _were _pretty loud." I looked off to the side and mumbled, "And it hurt a nice bit, too…"

"SO. Anyways, Andrew-kun's the only one who hasn't got hurt yet." Rise glanced at me with a mischievous and evil look in her eyes. "…I say we make us all even. I mean, you did make us both get hurt…"

"W-Wait, what?" _Oh crap they wouldn't._

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea…" Kanji grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

"N-No, no no no no no. You guys aren't serious, right?"

"Hmm…" Rise put a finger to her chin. "I got a bump on the head. Kanji's neck got snapped…" Her eyes lit up and she smirked at me. "Andrew-kun's foot got crushed…"

"What! N-NO! Don't, please, no!" _Pain is my enemy! I'd rather not feel much of it, thank you!_

"Just stay where you are, Andrew!" Kanji leapt out of his seat and started to briskly walk around the table. "This won't hurt a bit."

"L-Liar! Stay away!" I jolted out of the table and ran for my dear foot's life. Kanji had started to chase after me, and Rise was just behind him. Both had maniacal grins plastered on their faces, and slowly but surely the bigger one was starting to shorten the distance between us. _OH SHIT THEY __**ARE**__ GOING TO HURT ME!_ "Why me! What did I ever do to you guys!"

"You caused us both to get injured, that's what!" Rise shouted with her hands cupper over her mouth. "I just said that!"

"How the hell did I make _you_ to get hurt!"

"You're smart, I'm not! That's the reason!"

"BULLSHIT!"

Seeing as how running on the street could lead to casualties, I chose to race around the canopy to try and get them to lose their breath. I wouldn't be able to get very far ahead of them, but I was hoping it would tire them out quicker. _It's okay, it's okay. I'll just run and run and run around this thing until they get too beat out to chase me and then we'll sit down and have a laugh about it and OH SHIT RISE-CHAN'S IN FRONT OF ME._

I skidded to a quick stop and stared my girlfriend down. She had her hands on her hips and a big smirk on her face. How she got there without me noticing, I don't even know. "Out of luck, Andrew-kun." Her voice was ripe with a sadistic quality.

"R-Rise-chan, please get out of the way so I can keep running from you, please?" I knew that these guys weren't afraid to hurt me, even though Rise would get hurt by it, as well. I started to back away to try and get away from her, but suddenly-

"Can't let you do that, Andrew!" Kanji was quickly behind me and hooked his arms under mine, effectively locking me in place. _Oh, shit, I need to do a barrel roll and get out of here!_ "You both made us get hurt, so now it's _your_ turn."

"H-Huh?" I had thought for sure Kanji would be the one dishing out the pain, but now that I think about it Rise had a mean kick… "I-I didn't mean to actually hurt you guys! Your's was by accident, and I hardly did anything to Rise-chan!"

"Indirect means still count!" the redhead bellowed as she made her way to me. _OH CRUD SHE'S SERIOUS! WYVER YOU GOTTA HELP ME!_

'_**And how exactly would I be able to do that?'**_

_Tell me things to say to them to talk them out of this! And why are you so calm about this!_

'_**Too late. Rise is right in front of you.'**_

_Wha OH FRIG!_ "C-C'mon now, guys, there's no need for this! Let's talk this over! Maybe I-I can buy you guys some food or something to make up for it! I heard Aiya is having a special today!" _Well, it's not, but still._

"Not falling for it," Kanji cackled. "I took a quick look at the menu on the way here. No specials."

"Wha- Why would you _do __that_ before coming here!"

"I was planning on havin' it for supper. And since my mom needs my help at the shop after, I needed to decide what to get beforehand."

"…Dammit, that's actually a good reason."

"So, anyways, we've got you in our trap now," Rise giggled as she placed her hands on my shoulders. "This'll hurt you more than it hurts me. And trust me, I'll be feeling this."

"N-NO! No, stop!" I desperately tried to swing my arms to get Kanji's away from me, but every time I did his arms would tense and make my escape even more the harder. Rise smiled sweetly despite the dark look in her face, and her leg slowly raised up higher and higher. _Oh wow she's flexible… WAIT WHAT NO DON'T GET DISTRACTED MUST BREAK FREE!_

But, it was too late.

_*CRUNCH*_

"GAH!" My head shot up as her heel went down. It hurt like bloody hell, but I don't think there were any broken-

_*CRUNCH*_

_Now_ some bones were broken.

"AHHHH!" As I cried in pain, Rise's hands tightened their grip on my shoulders. She, too, was feeling the hurt, but I could tell she was doing her best to ignore it. She started to raise her foot again, and I quickly contemplated using my good foot to kick her away, but I didn't want to physically hurt her.

_*CRUNCH*_

Those thoughts were quickly fleeting, though.

"STOP! _**NOW!**_" _Screw her safety! She's hurting herself now, anyways!_ "Sorry, Rise-chan!" My other foot rose up and pressed against her stomach. She was confused for a second before coming to a quick realization, which, unfortunately, came too late.

"OOF!" I pushed my foot out and caused her to trip over her feet and fall flat on her rump.

I winced at her landing, but the pain in my foot was too much for the mental-pain to take away. "Y-You didn't need to step on it _that_ hard! How the hell can you stomp like that, anyways! And- And let go of me, Kanji!" His arms loosened and I tried to walk forward, but Rise's foot caused way too much damage and I promptly lost balance on it. I only got so far that I fell over and (surprisingly) landed somewhat on top of her. She was quick enough to catch me, but I was still rather heavy, and I caused her to fall right flat on her back.

"H-Hey! You okay?" Rise shouted after her head landed on the grass.

"No, of course I'm not! I-I think you broke my foot!" Honest to goodness, I think she did. The pain wouldn't leave, and it was pretty much torture on my half. _Doesn't Rise feel the pain too?_ "Don't you feel the pain too?"

"Ah- Y-Yeah, but I didn't think I actually _broke_ it! Are my kicks really that hard…?"

"Now's not the time for that!" I turned my head around to look at a baffled and blushing(?) Kanji. "Call the ambulance already!"

"Huh? O-Oh, r-right!" Kanji quickly turned around and flipped open his phone.

"U-Um…" Rise stammered.

"W-What?" I said through gritted teeth as I turned back to her.

"Your, um…" Her face was completely red, and her eyes were looking straight down. "…Your hands are on my breasts again."

"...Huh?" I looked down. …_So they are._ I glanced back up. Rise's face showed signs of mild annoyance. I looked back down. _Well, I've already come this far. Might as well actually squeeze-_

_*__**SLAP**__*_

…_N-Never mind… That actually hurt more than her foot…_ "S-Sorry… Didn't mean to land on you like that…" I removed my hands from her and started nursing the cheek she slapped.

"That's the second time in two days I got felt up…" Rise sighed as she sat up, which caused me to sit up as well, although I was more or less lying against her. "And by _you_, no less…"

"H-Hey, first time was in self-defense." _Goddamn foot's in pain!_ "I would've died if I hadn't stopped you."

"You know I wouldn't've _actually_ suffocated you, right? I was just playing with you."

"Yeah, I suppose your right… But this time, I oughta deserve something for having to put up with you and your shoes. My foot frickin' hurts!"

"Um…" Rise sighed again and hung her head back. "I guess I've been going overboard with some stuff as of late… Like just then, and last night… Uh, s-sorry…"

"Hmm…" Despite the throbbing in my foot, I tried my best to not show it. "I may need you to do something to make up for it…"

She looked back at me and said, "First, actually sit up. You're gonna make me topple over again."

"Ah, right, okay." I pushed my arms off of her shoulders and landed back on my butt. Of course to do this, my feet had to swing out in front of me, and that made a _massive_ amount of pain rush through me. I grunted as I brought them out, and I could see Rise's face crunch while I did so.

"Okay, now I'm _seriously_ starting to regret doing that to you now…" she said quickly after I finally stopped moving my feet.

I sighed and said, "I don't think you should worry about it. This wound probably wouldn't last long… Who knows, it might even be gone by tonight. The same with that bump on your head."

Rise blinked and idly put her small hand on it. "I had forgotten all about that…"

I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly Kanji was behind us again. "An ambulance is on it's way. You okay, man?"

"Not… really. Kinda got a broken foot here. Maybe. It could just be badly bruised or something…" I glanced to both of them. "So… Does this make us even, then? Bump on the head, sore neck… _broken foot_?" I purposefully put emphasis on that last one to get my point across.

"Uh…" Rise sighed again. "You… probably have it worse than us. S-Sorry."

"Yeah, uh… We kinda took that too far…" Kanji agreed.

"Yeah, well, just don't make a habit of it. I'm not exactly a fan of pain…" All was silent for a short moment before Rise got onto her knees, wrapped her hands around my shoe and tried to take it off. "Um, what are you doing?"

"I'm checking your foot. To see if it's actually broken or not."

"Ah. Well, then, be care- GAH!"

"O-Owie…!"

"Be more careful!"

"I hardly moved your foot!"

"Well move it even less than that! In fact, no, leave the shoe where it is! We'll have the doctors look at it when they get here!"

Rise huffed and sat back on her backside. "Fine. If you say so."

Kanji chose to sit down as well, except he walked over to the canopy's table and sat down on the bench facing us. _The table… It has our homework on it._ "You know, I just remembered, but we were supposed to work on our homework right now," I told the group.

"But… we got a little sidetracked, didn't we?" Rise sighed.

Kanji rubbed his neck and said, "I'm actually glad that all that happened. It means we don't have to work now."

"I'm not sure if I should agree with you there or not," I said, glancing to him. "Wouldn't mind working if I didn't have to have this pain, but I'm also sorta happy that we're not doing it."

"But we've still got to work on it afterwards, right?" Rise asked. "It's not just going to vanish. We're gonna have even _less_ time to work on it now…"

"…Dammit! I'm not looking forward to that now…" I tried to shift my legs around to try and get in a more comfortable position, but that proved useless when all it did was cause more pain. "Ow ow ow ow…" Despite this, I still tried to get in a better spot.

But I was quickly stopped by a hand placing itself on my shoulder. "Stop," Rise said to me. Her brow was furrowed as if trying to quell her own pain, although she wasn't doing that good of a job to hide it. Unless she wasn't trying to hide it, that is. "Don't move. You're hurting yourself."

"…Okay," I slowly nodded to her. She solemnly returned that nod and scooted over to sit next to me.

"I'm sorry about that… I never meant to actually break your foot…"

"We don't really know if it's broken or not yet…"

"Well, whatever. It hurts, right? A lot. And I'm sorry about that."

"It's not your fau-"

"It is. Obviously it is. I did that to you, and I stomped on it so many times… I need to make it up to you somehow…"

"…I can think of something, but I probably shouldn't say it here," I chuckled under my breath.

"Hm? What was that?" Rise asked as she turned to me.

"N-Nothing, nothing…"

I was just able to notice it, but little by little, the pain in my foot started to grow bigger, even though I wasn't moving it at all. Of course, it _was_ hurting a lot before this, but now it was starting to become unbearable. I started to breath deeper to see if I could stop the pain, but it did little help to it.

The pain was gradually building up, and after a certain amount of time Rise turned to me. "Y-You okay?" she asked me with a bit of her own pain in her voice.

"I-It's starting to hurt a b-bit more…" _Although you could probably tell that._

"Just t-try to bear it…" Rise supported me as she grabbed and squeezed my hand. "It won't hurt for t-that long…"

I looked up at her. I could see the pain all throughout her face, but when she saw me she forced a smile on her own. "Thanks… I-I know it won't…"

She nodded to me, and looked back out towards the street. In the distance, I could hear the roar of the ambulance's siren coming to the river. My hand got squeezed again. "You'll be fine, Andrew-kun…" Rise turned to face me. "You'll be just fine."

I smiled gently at her even though my foot hurt like crazy. "As long as you're here with me, I will be."

Rise's smile didn't waver as she blushed slightly, and she turned back to the road to wait for the vehicle. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Kanji glance in a different direction and grumble, "Get a room, would'ja?"

I chuckled and leaned back to face him. "Aww, what's the matter? Jealous?"

The big guy's eyes shot open, his head turned to face me and his face was already flushed. "W-What! N-No, of course I'm not!"

I smirked. "I don't believe it."

"No! No no no!" Kanji's head and arms shook rapidly in front of him, and I could only laugh. Rise was also giggling to, although she wasn't really looking at us. Kanji breathed deeply and, when he calmed down a bit, glared at me. "Do you want your _other_ foot broken?"

"Uh- N-No, that's alright, thank you…"

* * *

**~3:00 PM~**

The ambulance took me to the hospital the moment they arrived, but Rise and Kanji chose to stay behind and take back all of our books to their houses instead of just leaving them there in the open for anyone to take. They promised me that they'd be over at the hospital as soon as possible after they bring the stuff back, but I told them to take their time; that there was no need to worry about me, and that I'd be fine.

And so because of that, they chose not to come and visit. That made me feel angry.

The doctor I told my predicament to seemed confused and slightly shocked when I told him a celebrity and a delinquent worked together to help crush my foot. I assured him they were my friends and that I kinda sorta did something to make them do that to me. The doctor was still bewildered but chose to forget it.

Also, I was also generally surprised when the x-rays of my foot were in. According to the doctor, my foot was indeed broken, but 'somehow' the bones already started to mend themselves back together, and have actually got a good deal of it done. My foot was also well enough that the doctor said I didn't even need to stay in the hospital, although he told me I should still use some crutches to help me walk around, even though I knew that it won't take long to heal.

I caught the bus in hopes to return back to the inn, but before it could even reach halfway there, I had this 'feeling' that Rise was waiting at the shopping district's bus stop for me. I told the driver to let me off there, and when I got off and she saw the crutches, I was hugged and kissed and apologized to extensively.

"I am _so _sorry!" Rise screamed as she bowed before me. "I never meant to actually _break_ your foot! I just wanted to hurt you a little! But… I got too carried away!"

"Hey hey hey!" Allowing for one of the crutches to fall to the ground, I tried to calm her down by stroking her hair. She tensed a little when I touched her head, but she quickly eased herself when she realized I meant no harm. "There's no need for that. A mistake is a mistake. I know you weren't _actually_ trying to break some bones, and I'm not mad at you for doing that. Just… control yourself next time, okay?"

"R-Right…" She stood fully upwards and pulled me into another hug. I took my hand from her head and placed it around her, yet I continued to rub her back with that hand. "S-Still, I'm sorry."

"What did I just say? You don't need to apologize."

"…Alright."

We had a moment of silence until I spoke up again. "…So, um…"

"Hm?"

"You, uh, still need to make up for that, huh?"

"…And how would I do that?"

"Oh, I dunno… What do you think we should do?"

"I have something in mind, but… it won't be anything new that we've already done."

"…Aww."

"Shut up." I was squeezed. "You're lucky enough to have me, anyways."

"You know, I probably _am _lucky to have someone like you. ...Even though you can be violent at times."

She scoffed. "Besides earlier, when was I ever violent?"

"Oh, you know... Against the Shadows, those two punks from way back when… _Me_ last night…"

"...Okay okay, I get what you mean. But those first two times were in self-defense."

"You still pack quite a punch. Or, kick, o-or slice, or something."

"Hm. Thank you, I guess."

"Your welcome. So, um, are we gonna get going now?"

Rise glanced up at me with an odd expression. "Wouldn't you rather want me to stay like this or something?"

"I'd like to, yes, but we're kinda facing the middle of the street and hundreds of people must've seen us by now."

"…Oh, right. Well, um, let's go. I have your books and everything at my house, so let's stop there for a bit."

"Alright."

She unwrapped her arms from me and bent down to pick up the fallen crutch. "Actually…" she said as she handed it back to me. "Maybe we can stay there for more than a bit…"

"…Huh?"

Rise giggled, turned on her heel and started to walk back to her house with a hop in her step. "Grandma told me she was taking an afternoon nap when I got home earlier. She's still asleep now, so we have some time to just hang out."

"I'd like that, actually," I grinned as I hobbled after her.

"Well I'm glad that you do. We may even be able to pick up what we left off last night."

"We weren't finished last night?"

"Nope! A couple is _never_ finished kissing! Don't you know that?"

"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, your highness. Sorry if I don't know anything about relationships, since I've never been in one before now."

"That doesn't matter. Every teenaged person should know that couples will never give up on kissing. Never!"

"…You, um, seem rather upbeat about this."

"Of course! Ever since we started going out, I've… actually loved kissing you. It's a _lot_ different than kissing someone as part of a script. Someone who actually loves me back makes me feel like… like there's nothing else happening. That we're the only two people here on this planet. In this _universe_. It's like… nothing matters at all." She turned her head around and smiled cheerfully at me. "Except us."

I was surprised that she had thought this deeply about it, and it seemed like she said that right from the bottom of her heart. "I… didn't realize you thought about it like that."

"Oh I think about it like that, alright," she said as she stopped and turned around. "I've kissed a lot of boys in my lifetime, but… you're different than them. You actually make me feel… special. Like I actually _am_ someone…"

…_Wait, what? _"Huh? What do you mean by that last one?"

Her hands quickly flew to her mouth. "Ah, n-nothing! Never mind!" She spun back around and dashed off for her house. "C'mon, we won't have enough time if we're too slow!"

"Wha-! D-Don't say it like _that_ in the middle of the street!"

"There's no one around, don't worry!"

"That doesn't matter! And I can't run, anyways, so slow down!"

**

* * *

~Saturday, August 27~  
****~8:30 PM~**

* * *

"So, what's going on again?" Rise asked me as we walked down a street. In just a day's time, my foot had healed completely, and I was allowed to return the crutches and walk on my own to feet again. The doctors said I was a sort of legend by having rapid-quick healing skills, but to be honest, it only started happening once I came to Inaba.

"According to Teddie and Yukiko, Souji's been helping Nanako-chan with her summer homework. Everyone else went there to help or hang out, and I think it'd be nice if we all went there, too."

"Then why am I here too?" Kanji asked on my other side in an annoyed tone.

I turned my head to him. "Like I said, all of us would be nice." Kanji grunted and turned his head back in front of him. I looked back to Rise and asked, "So, what kind of summer homework would she have to do?"

Rise looked to the sky in thought. "Um… Probably, like, writing a short story or something? I can't exactly remember what I used to do back then…"

"Well, whatever it is, it should be a breeze," I smirked. "I mean, Nanako-chan's in elementary school, right? So what she's doing can't be hard at all!

* * *

"We have to build something? Sorry, man, that's too hard."

"Huh, looks like we picked the wrong day to come here… I can't do any of this art stuff," Rise sighed. She and I were both sitting on the couch right next to the little table where Kanji, Souji, and Nanako herself were all seated at.

"Me neither…" the little girl said dejectedly as she looked down at the table.

"Senpai, can't you do something like that?" I asked Souji.

Souji sighed and turned back to me, "I can, yes, but I want Nanako to try this on her own first."

"But… she doesn't know how…"

"Huh…" Kanji, who was oddly silent through that whole thing, turned his head to Nanako. "Lemme see what you got. I'll help you with it."

"Oh, um… Okay." Nanako quickly stood up and ran out of the room to get whatever she had.

When she left, Souji turned to Rise and I and chose to start conversing with us. "So, then, what have you guys been doing since we last met?"

"The last time we met waaas… the festival, right?" I asked him. He nodded. "Um, nothing much, really. Working on our own homework, spending time together, giving each other injuries… The kinds of things friends do, right?"

Souji's face scrunched in confusion, but Rise started to freak out. "D-Don't bring that up!"

I sighed with a smile. "Fine."

Our senpai shook his head, but then looked at me again. "You guys, um… Didn't happen to go exploring anywhere, did you?"

"Whaddaya mean?" I asked.

"Like… any adventures?"

"...Ummm…?"

"To… a castle?"

_Castle? Castle… OH CRUD!_ "I-I don't know what your talk-"

"Teddie told me. He said you practically forced him to go there."

"Wha-! We did not!" _OH CRAP I DIDN'T DENY IT._

Souji's eyes narrowed at me. "…I see." He looked at Rise, who now had a nervous expression, and to Kanji, who wasn't paying attention to us. "When we first formed the Investigation Team," he said as he turned back to me, "we made a promise that no one would go in there alone. I guess I can't blame you, since you guys weren't there and all, but still, it's too dangerous to go in there without any supervision from me or the others."

"B-But, we were alright!" Rise told him, leaning forward towards him. "None of us got seriously hurt, and plus, we still had someone watching over us!"

"Huh? Who?"

"Andrew-kun!" _HUH._ By now, Nanako had returned with her stuff and Kanji was helping her work on it. "He guided us through the castle and everything, and he kept us safe when we fought that strong Shadow at the top!"

Souji blinked as his mouth opened a bit. "You guys fought the Shadow?"

"Y-Yeah," I nodded to him, "B-But it was a piece of cake! None of us got hurt, and we managed to curb stomp that thing into nothing! It was way too weak for us to be considered a challenge!"

Souji took all of this new information in. He looked passed me, as if in deep thought, but then his eyes refocused and he said, "If you guys were able to beat that Shadow… then you must be better than I had thought."

"H-Huh? Seriously?" _I was kinda sorta expecting him to get even more mad at us_…

"Yeah. I mean, Teddie said that those Shadows at the top were pretty strong, and if you were able to beat it - just the three of you - without any help from me or the others, then you guys must be pretty strong yourselves." He glanced to the side and mumbled, "Admittedly, that was one of the weaker Shadows, but still…"

"S-So, what are you saying, senpai?"

"What I'm saying is, if there's ever a time that I get too tired to lead the group, I want you to take over for me."

"…S-So, I'll be, like, your back-up or something?" I asked him.

"Not necessarily. You'll still be a regular member of the fighting party, but if there's ever a time I need to take a break, you'll be the group's leader for the time being."

"…I-I will?" That was unexpected. I had thought that I was just another member on this team, but to actually be leading the whole group was something that wasn't on my to-do list. "B-But are you sure you want _me_ to do that? I mean, I'm not very good…"

"But out of everyone on the team, you're the only one with at least a _small_ experience of leadership, so you'd be the obvious choice. Of course, that's if we ever go back in there… Aaaand I'll have to judge you myself before anything is decided."

"O... Okay!" I stood and bowed to the grey-haired boy. "Thank you, senpai! I won't let you down, I promise!"

"Right, thank you," Souji smiled and nodded to me. "We'll all be counting on you." I grinned and sat right back down.

"What're you guys talking about?" Nanako suddenly asked as she looked up at us.

"Oh, u-um, nothing, Nanako-chan!" I assured her. "Nothing at all!"

"Oh, um… Okay."

I then chose to look at whatever she was making, and was I surprised when I saw it. I was a small car that had this little doll attached to the roof of it, and had many little designs on its sides. "N-Nanako-chan, did you make that?"

"Oh, no. He did," she said as she pointed to Kanji.

"I didn't exactly want you to do it yourself, Kanji," Souji sighed with a tired look in his eyes. "I was kinda hoping you'd be _helping _Nanako…"

"U-Uh… Sorry… I just, kinda took over it…" the big guy replied sheepishly.

"K-Kanji, _you _made that?" Rise asked, slightly startled. _Well obviously he did. No elementary schooler could make something like that!_

"Y-Yeah," the guy responded. "Why? Y-Ya got a problem with that?"

"What? No, I didn't mean it like that! I was gonna say, you did a really good job with that."

"...Huh? Y-You think so?"

"Well, yeah. I wasn't expecting you to make something as good as that."

"U-Um… Thanks…?"

"Wow…" I blinked, then turned to Rise. "You actually complimented someone, other than me _or_ yourself."

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" she asked with a confused look.

"I'm just saying, I wasn't expecting you to say something like that."

"Shut up!"

**

* * *

~Wednesday, August 31~  
****~10:30 AM~**

* * *

"Huh… termelon…? …ure, I'll go! …ny's still asle… ake him u…? Okay!"

Silence, then-

"_**AAAAAANDYYYYYYYY!**_"

"_**WHA!**_" I jerked out from under the futon covers and nearly came face first into Teddie's face. There was a wide smile brimming on his face, and there was this sort of excitement showing in his eyes. "W-What the hell was that for!"

"Yosuke's on the line!" He shoved my cell into my face. "Here, he wants to speak to you!"

"Guh…" I snatched the phone from his hands and fell back onto the pillow. "Whaaaat do you want so early in the morning, senpai?"

_/Early? It's 10:30, that's not early at all!/_

"It is to me. Now whaddaya want?"

_/…Souji's uncle's bringing home a watermelon for him and Nanako-chan, but it'll be too big for them to eat alone. He called me and invited me over, and I've been calling everyone else to see if they wanted to go and have some./_

"Some watermelon…? Huh, never had that before… Sure-"

_/You never had a watermelon before! Where the hell have you been for the last fifteen years of your life?/_

"…Canada? Watermelons aren't that big of a deal there. But yeah, sure, I'll tag along. What better way to spend the last day of summer than with your friends, right?"

_/Sweet! Alright, we're meeting up at Souji's place now. I've gotta call the others, so make sure we're all there before it gets smacked open!/_

"Right, gotcha! See ya then!" I closed the phone, sat back up and turned back to Ted, who was already hopping up and down trying to haul his pants on. "Ted! There still may be people asleep downstairs! There's no need to rush!"

He stopped jumping and looked at me with saddened eyes. "B-But… Nana-chan! Watermelon!"

"…Point taken. C'mon, let's hurry!"

* * *

When Teddie and I arrived, everyone else was already there waiting for us. The majority of the girls were on the couch - besides Rise, who came over to greet me - while the guys were standing - besides Yosuke, who was sitting at the actual table.

When everyone made their way to the living room, Souji spoke up. "My uncle got a watermelon from someone at work, and he suggested we get everyone together to have some."

"Man, a watermelon!" Kanji said ecstatically. "'Cause of all the stuff that's gone down this summer, I completely missed out!" He looked passed the group and into the kitchen. "So, where is it? The fridge?"

Rise started sending glares at the bigger boy. "Gee, Kanji, they invited us over… At least show some manners."

Kanji's frown left him as he turned away from the girl, but before they could argue anymore Yosuke interrupted. "We gotta smack it open first!"

"Huh? Smack it open?" Chie asked as she turned to him. "Are we seriously gonna do that? We can't eat it if it gets all crushed!"

"But, but-!" Yukiko shouted, surprisingly very excited. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"You know, it does sound rather fun…" I nodded to her. "Never smacked one open before either, so this should be an enjoyable experience!"

Nanako hopped off the couch and exclaimed, "I wanna do it too!"

And now Teddie was overflowing with determination. "I'll swing at it with everything I've got!" He suddenly grasped his hands and looked up to the ceiling with a melodramatic look. "The splattering fruit juice! Bursts of joy!" _Oh crap is he doing this tagline thing again?_ "One night of love… The bitter sweetness of those days is the essence of youth!"

Everyone just stared at him in bewilderment, but Yosuke sighed and said, "That makes no sense at all… And dude, will you cut out those commercial lines of yours?"

"Oh, so I'm not the only one who notices this?" I asked him. "Oh, thank God…"

Nanako suddenly giggled. "That's the essence of youth!" she repeated.

"Now, see, it's _much_ better - and cuter - when she says it."

Without any warning what so ever, the Dojima residence's sliding door slid opened and in walked an older man. "I'm home- Whoa-ho, that's a lot of shoes! How many people are here?"

Nanako cheered in joy and ran to greet him. "Welcome home!" she cried as she bounded into his stomach.

"Easy there, Nanako!" Dojima laughed.

"Um, let's split the watermelon open!" she said immediately.

"Say what!" _Uh oh that tone is not good._ "…Um, well, you see… The watermelon's… already split…"

Everyone in the room gasped in terror, but Nanako must've taken it the hardest. "W-What!" _N-NO! Don't cry, please, Nanako-chan! My heart won't take it! ...D-Dojima, you bastard!_

"Yeah…" Dojima sighed and kneeled down, patting her on the head. "I'm sorry…"

"It's already smacked open?" Yosuke's arms drooped down and he hung his head. "Man, I was looking forward to that…"

"So… now what? We just eat?" I asked everyone.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Souji responded dejectedly. "Honestly, I wanted to slice it open myself…"

Nanako said nothing as she slowly walked back to the living room, but walked in between Kanji and I, slid open the glass door and sat down on the porch. Dojima, with a distraught look in his eyes, came up to us and laid down the bag with the already-sliced watermelon slices in it. "The guys at work wanted to split it themselves. I didn't know you guys wanted to do it. Someone should've called and told me."

"S-Sorry Uncle, we were busy getting everyone else," Souji replied with a hint of embarrassment. Dojima sighed and handed each of us a rather big piece.

"W-Whoa, this is pretty big…" I said in amazement. It was easily the size of my head. ...Maybe bigger? "Not sure if I'll be able to finish it all."

Kanji gladly accepted his slice of watermelon from Dojima and actually started drilling through it with his teeth. "Mm! I forgot how good these things taste!"

"Whoa, Kanji, you'll start choking if you eat too quickly!" Yosuke yelled at him with his own slice in his hands. "Slow down!"

"I know, I know! But this is just so damn good!"

"You know, you really should eat more slowly," Rise told him. "Instead of just hogging it down, you'd be able to savour its flavour." Kanji considered this and started eating down the fruit a _bit_ slower, but Rise only sighed and shook her head.

After handing everyone a slice of watermelon, whether it was a large one or a small one - actually, the guys were holding large slices and the girls had smaller ones - Dojima took a peek in the bag and looked at its remaining contents in confusion. "Huh, there's still a lot more left…" He looked up in the direction of the other houses on the street. "Maybe I should share it with the neighbours…?"

"That's a good idea," Souji nodded to him. "Want me to help bring it around?"

"No, that's alright." Dojima started walking to the front door. "You stay with your friends. I'll be back in a second."

"Oh, alright. See ya."

"You know…" Kanji said as he looked around. "It's kinda cramped in here. I'm headin' out back."

"Ooh! I'll go with you!" Chie said as she followed him. "I need some fresh air anyways."

"Nanako-chan's looking a little down…" Yukiko told Souji as she looked out the window. "Maybe we should try to cheer her up?"

"Yeah…" Souji responded, a scowl on his face. "I hate seeing her like this…"

The two nodded, Souji grabbed a watermelon slice for her, and they walked outside together, leaving Rise, Teddie, Yosuke and I in the house. "I'm staying inside," I said as I sat down at the small table. "It's starting to get too crowded out there now."

"This house _is _kinda small for every one of us here…" Rise observed as she glanced around. "Although for senpai, Nanako-chan and Dojima-san, it's probably alright…"

Teddie and Yosuke sat on my sides while Rise sat down right in front of me. I looked down at my huge watermelon, sniffed it, and took a bite out of it. "Mm… Mm! Thish ish gud!"

"Eww! Swallow before you talk!" Rise yelled with a scrunched face.

I grunted in acknowledgement, and quickly chewed and swallowed the food. "Uh, s-sorry."

"Geez, I know it's good, but don't speak with it in your mouth next time," Yosuke said while wearing a look of disgust.

"Right, right…" _The next time… would be at school, right?_ "Crud! I just reminded myself tomorrow's the first day of the new semester…"

"A-Aww! You didn't have to _tell_ us!" Rise shouted. "Great, now I'm getting depressed…"

"Uh, sorry. Again…"

"Hey, what's this school place like, anyway?" Teddie asked us. "Andy's told me about it a bit, but I've never experienced it myself."

"Trust us," I said for the three humans at the table. "You don't want to go through hell like that."

"Exams are the worst," Rise explained with a solemn expression, "since they get you to answer questions based on _everything_ you learned that semester."

"And they always post the marks in the hallway, even if you did really bad on them," Yosuke sighed.

"And plus, you remember all those nights after you started staying with me that I had to work on some things? _THAT_ was homework, every kid's nightmare." Teddie visibly gulped.

"There may be times where you have to pull all-nighters to get it done," Rise told him in an eerily spooky voice. "And if you get tired and fall asleep in class… They hit you on the head!" Teddie didn't seem to startled by this. "…W-With a sledgehammer!" The bear shrieked at that.

"And out of everything else, this is probably the most terrifying…" Yosuke said, this creepy smile on his face. "Sometimes… The teachers try to _score_ with you… Even the _ugly_ ones…"

"W-What! N-No! NOOO! It's not truuuuue! It can't be! It just can't!" Teddie started bawling and pounding his fist on the table.

Rise and I glanced at our senpai. "D-Do they really…?" we asked simultaneously.

He only shook his head slowly. "You don't even want to know…" The three of us shuddered at the thought. After those evil thoughts left my mind, Yosuke looked at me. "Oh, by the way, Andrew."

"Yeah?"

"How long did you say you'd be staying here in Inaba? I don't exactly remember how long you said."

"Oh, umm… I think I was told I could stay for a few years, maybe more, maybe less. It all depends on my parents and how much they miss me, I guess."

"Oh, I see. I thought you'd be leaving around when Souji leaves next spring."

"…Oh, that's right… I forgot all about that… Great, way to get _me_ depressed now! I don't exactly want senpai to leave after all this time!"

"Hey, none of us do, so quit whining and eat your watermelon."

"Huh? Oh! Forgot about that." And I plopped my face right into it. _Damn this is good!_

"So then, I still have a few years with you then?" Rise asked, looking up from her melon.

"Mhm." I nodded, then swallowed what I had in my mouth. "Don't worry, you're not getting rid of me that easily," I said with a wink.

Rise held back a laugh and faked a sigh. "Dang. And here I was, getting my hopes up."

"Sorry, _dear, _but I'm stuck with you until I go back home."

"Heh. I'll be counting down the days until then."

"Huh?" Teddie, whom had regained his senses, and whom I also noticed had yet to take a watermelon slice for himself, was looking between the two of us. "What are you two talking about? Why are you looking forward to the day Andy leaves?"

"…It's sarcasm, Ted," Yosuke sighed and shook his head.

"They sound pretty honest to me."

"You gotta learn this stuff, man."

Suddenly, the front door slid open and Dojima walked in again, this time with an empty bag. "The neighbours just hogged everything that was left… Probably should've left some here…"

"Welcome back!" everyone on the property (besides Nanako, who was still pissed) called out to him.

"Uh… T-Thanks," Dojima replied, obviously not expecting that. He noticed Nanako sitting on the porch as Souji and Yukiko tried to console her. He sighed, walked over to her and kneeled down. "Hey…" Nanako didn't say anything, and only turned her head away. He sighed again and said, "C'mon, Nanako, don't pout. Everyone came here to hang out, right?" Nanako grumbled again and looked even farther away from him. "…I'm really sorry. It never occurred to me you'd want to do that…"

Chie stopped biting into her watermelon and turned to the little girl. "Hey, Nanako-chan," she said. "Let's do this again sometime. Except next time, we'll do it right - at the beach!"

Rise's head shot up and turned to those outside. "Ooh ooh! Seconded!"

"Whoa, another beach trip?" Yosuke's eyes lit up. "T-That means we get to see you guys in swimsuits again!" And then his face fell. "Aw, wait… There aren't enough days left in summer for us to do that again. We'll have to do it next year…"

From my perspective, it was a little hard to see, but Nanako's head dropped down. "Next year…?" she said to herself. She looked back up to Souji and asked, "Will you play with me next year too?"

"Of course I will!" Souji smiled to the girl. "We all will! Won't we, guys?"

"You betcha!" Kanji, who was not in my line of sight, yelled at the top of his lungs.

"You betcha!" Yukiko copied with a giggle.

"Obviously we will!" I told her, after remembering to swallow the fruit.

"Did you hear that, Nanako?" Dojima asked his daughter with a smile.

Nanako grinned and giggled herself. "Yep! Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" Teddie cried with a cheerful voice. "We'll always be willing to spend time with you, Nana-chan!"

"You got that right!" Chie agreed. "Anytime you want us to hang, we'll be here in a flash!"

"You promise?" Nanako asked with bright eyes.

"Of course!" Every teenaged-looking person shouted in unison. Nanako's face beamed even brighter, and I swear to the Lord I contracted diabetes right then and there.

**

* * *

OKAY. Another chapter done. Don't got much time to talk right now, so I'll make this quick: I'll be getting Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood tomorrow, and I'll become addicted to that game no doubt, so try not to expect another chapter soon.**

**Okay now I seriously gotta go. Bye bye for now!~**


	27. Port Island

**I'm late, I'm late, I'm very beary late. No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm beary very late.**

**So um yeah. Almost two weeks huh? Long time for you guys to wait... Ah well it's not entirely my fault. ...Maybe. Besides my broken cord and... personal problems, I was just lazing around. So, here ya go!**

**But first, reviews:**

**P4anonman:** Eheheh... I probably shouldn't have tempted you guys to try and figure out the voice. Oh well, too late now. And congrats on being the 101st reviewer!

**Hishin Trueflame:** Hopefully that 'spoiler sense' won't pick up anything coming up in this story. We've already had a lot of things revealed...

**anon:** Brotherhood's good, I suggest getting it. Doesn't matter when, but still, get it soon. It's one of the best games I've played yet.

**Jharoz:** Yaaay my very own idol! And a penisona. Fu fu fu... I wonder what I should do with them? :D

**Disclaimer: Persona 4 is Atlus', Andy's mine.**

* * *

**~Thursday, September 1~  
****~8:30 AM~**

* * *

A sunny day like today shouldn't be spent inside, especially if that 'inside' was Yasogami High. The students in the desks around me where either complaining that summer holiday was too short - _Only a month? How fair is that compared to back home?_ - or they had fallen asleep in their chairs, gently snoring away as if today were another day of the break.

I was among those sleepers. Or, at least, I was trying to be.

With my head in my arms and my eyes drawn shut, I was ready to go off on fun and happy adventures in my own personal dream land. I'd dream of monsters terrorizing the land, breathing fire onto the village and its residents, and generally making the economy go bad. And then my dream would fall onto the fair-skinned princess of the area. She'd be backed to the wall, and she'd be completely defenceless against the demons' attacks.

That's where the prince would swoop in on his horse, obliterate the vile creatures with a single slice of his new machete, and sweep the sweet maiden off of her feet and ride off into the sunset together, living happily ever after.

…Of course, in reality, the monsters don't terrorize the village, the prince doesn't have a horse, and the princess could very well kick the asses of all of the above. Twice. While making tofu.

"Dude, school hasn't even started and you're asleep already?"

"Good morning to you, too, Kanji." I yawned tiredly and sat straight up in my desk. I noticed that the guy was already sitting right next to me. "…Hey, by the way, why are you allowed to _not_ where the summer uniform?"

"I just never bothered to wear one," he replied as he scratched his arm. "No one asked me about it, so I didn't change."

I tried to picture him in a summer uniform. "…Or maybe it just doesn't suit you?"

"Yeah, you're right. Tried it on the first day we were supposed t' wear 'em before summer break."

"…So, what happened?"

"Oh, it's still home. 'Cept, I'm pretty sure it's in five different parts of my room…"

"You ripped it up? That costs money, y'know."

"Psh. Like I care about that. Mom doesn't mind paying. Besides, she thinks an animal tore it up."

"…Well, that's close enough to the truth, anyways, so you're all good."

"Wait, whaddaya mean by that?"

"Nothing, my friend. Nothing at all."

Rise strolled into the classroom at that point - _Saw it coming. _- and plopped right down into her desk. "Mornin'…" she greeted lazily, then promptly lid down to sleep some more.

"Up," I commanded, "or thou shalt be tickled."

"You won't do that in public," she replied without raising her head.

"I did it on a train. That's public enough."

"Whatever. I'm too tired to laugh anyways…"

"Laughing would wake you up. And I bet you're gonna need to be for the first day of the second semester."

"Oh well. I'll get the notes off of you or somethin'…"

"Come on, cheer up. The end of the holiday isn't the end of the world."

"To a lot of people, it is."

"But you don't have to be one of those people."

"I want to be. School sucks."

"But if it wasn't for school, we wouldn't be able to see each other practically every day."

"…Fine, school is good for one thing, and one thing only. That's it. It brings nothing else but _pain_."

"Well… That's probably true for _some _people. One or two students may actually _enjoy_ learning."

"Huh…" Rise rose back up and turned around to face us, her friends. "Weirdos, that's what they are. Actually bothering to pay attention to what's being talked about…"

"I'm pretty sure Yukiko-senpai's in that category, too…" Kanji sighed.

"…Oh, right. W-Well, she's weird then. And so is anyone else who honestly cares about what's going on."

"Yeeeah, you're saying that now, but wait until the next exams," I smirked at her. "You're gonna be running up to me, screaming, 'Andrew-kun, Andrew-kun, I need help! I haven't the slightest idea of what we learned! Only you can help me, since you're so smart and I know so little!'" She only glared at me. Without saying a word she reached over to the side of my desk, stuck her hand in my bag, and extracted my iPod. "H-Hey! What're you doing?"

"I'm confiscating this."

"W-What! Why!"

"For one, you called me stupid."

"Indirectly, though!"

"And yet you just admitted it. Another, I wouldn't run to you for help, I'd try it out on my own first."

"But you'd still need my help."

"That's besides the point. And for a third thing, you're a _reeeeeeeeally_ bad at impressions. I sound nothing like that."

"I can't get my voice up that high, so quiet, you. And give back my iPod."

"Not until the end of school."

"Why?"

"There's no need to have it right now, and we're not allowed to use them in the middle of class. You're just gonna hafta hold out on it."

I groaned and hung my head. I didn't particularly like it when other people touched my things, especially something that's so important to me. "You know, you keep that with you and I'll have to steal it back." Rise considered this and looked around her desk for any good hiding spots. "I sit right behind you so it doesn't really matter where you put it."

She looked up in thought, and after a few seconds a smile crept on her face. She glanced at me, winked at me, then spun right around and lower her head onto the desk.

"Um… What are you doing?"

"No need for you to kn- Agh, that's cold!"

"…Uh?" After a few more seconds, Rise cleared her throat and sat right back up. My iPod had mysteriously disappeared. "What did you do with it?"

She grinned, giggled and patted my hand. "Not telling~!"

I growled silently and bent down to look underneath her chair. It wasn't there, and I didn't hear her open up her own bag, so it wouldn't be there either. _And then she said that something was cold…?_ I leaned back up and looked at the space right beneath her head. "D-Did you just stuff it down your b-"

"SHUUU-!" Rise's palms clamped over my mouth in an attempt to shut me up. She glanced around to see if anyone had turned their heads to us. They did, but when they turned back to their friends Rise leaned in and whispered, "Don't say that out loud, you idiot!"

"Mm… Mmrrm."

"Wait, what?"

"Mmrrm."

"…Huh?"

I sighed as I took her hands in mine and removed them from my face. "I said sorry."

"Oh. Well, um, just remember for next time."

"Right, right."

"Geez, you guys are loud, aren't ya?"

_Huh? Oh. Right. Kanji._ "You just don't have someone of the opposite sex to talk casually with." _Although for Kanji... that person's sex probably wouldn't matter. Heheh._

The door at the front of the classroom slid open. Ms. Omukay strolled in, immediately closed the door again and walked to her desk. After ushering everyone to "shut it," the teacher's smile returned. "Hello class! It's great to see you all again!" Everyone murmured a response, but Teach just ignored their half-heartedness. "Anyways, I _would_ ask everyone what they did over the summer, but I have something to say first. You're all going to be shocked and surprised by this: we have yet _another_ transfer student joining us today."

_Wait, __**another**__ one?_ I turned my head to the right. Kanji just shrugged, and Rise turned around with a curious expression. "Wouldn't that, like, make it a hat trick or something?"

_Hockey reference? …Ohh, I see what you did there._ "Probably," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Although it's strange that this class has been getting so many new students…"

"Hmm. Yeah…"

"You think they're from another town or somethin'?"

"No need to wonder _now_," Kanji told us. "We're gonna find out in a few seconds anyway."

"Ah, you're right. Let's just see who-"

Naoto walked in.

"…it is."

That look on Kanji's face. Priceless.

The boy in the front of the room introduced himself as soon as he stopped walking to the teacher's desk. "My name is Naoto Shirogane. I've already been living in Inaba for some time now, but I had yet to administer into a school. I shall be here for the remainder of the term, so I do hope we can get along." Like Rise and I when we arrived here, Naoto bowed to the class and stepped back.

Whispers already started spreading throughout the students, and us three were part of it. "I _totally_ did not see that coming," Rise muttered to us.

"Yeah…" I nodded. "I mean, I knew he didn't attend this school, but… He hasn't been going to one at all?"

"That guy doesn't realize how lucky he was…"

"I don't think he was lucky… I think he's the kind of person who'd _want_ to learn 'n stuff."

"…Weirdo."

"Why don't you tell that to his face? He's coming down the row now."

"Huh-"

I smiled at Naoto when he walked up to the empty seat in front of Kanji (who by the way was completely speechless). "Didn't expect to see _you_ here."

He smiled back and nodded. "Nor did I. Registering into this school was a last minute decision, so the staff chose to place me in a… random homeroom."

"Well, I guess you got lucky, since there's at least three people in this one you know."

He nodded again and chuckled slightly. "True."

* * *

**~12:00 PM~**

Lunch came around rather slowly today, and the moment the bell rang our new classmate stood and left the room without a word. My friends and I were baffled by this, but we nonetheless retrieved our meals and arranged our desks together.

"All who was expecting Naoto-kun to join this class, raise your hand," Rise called out after setting her bento box on her table. I blinked at her, turned to Kanji to see that he had turned to me, then we both shifted our gaze back to the redhead. "…I thought so."

"It's actually kind of ironic," I noted. "Out of the three first-year classes, why _ours_?"

"He said it was only chance that he ended up in this homeroom. I doubt there's some reason behind it."

"But you never know. He could've rigged it somehow and made arrangements with the teachers to try and get put in this one, since we're basically the only people he knows."

"You sure about that? I'm sure he has _some_ other friends."

"Doubt it. When I invited him to the beach that one time, he was more than happy to come along." _Oh crud on a stick, I didn't mean to say that._ I quickly examined Rise's face, expecting to see her remembering the beach's events in depression.

She was not doing so. "What's wrong?" she asked normally.

"Oh, uh, n-nothing." _I had thought she'd still be upset about that..._ I turned my gaze to my _other_ friend. "U-Um… S-So, Kanji, you're awfully quiet today."

"Hm-!" Kanji's eyes blinked fiercely as he shook his head. "W-What?"

"I said that you've been keeping to yourself all day. You okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Just, um, thinking about something."

"Was it Naoto?" His eyes widened, his face reddened, and his speech was near-incomprehensible. "We're all thinking about him, no need to get flustered."

"Wha-! I-I'm not flustered!"

"You totally are," Rise said with a small smile.

"S-Shut up!"

"Aw, c'mon, what's there to be upset about? I think that's cute!"

_Wait wut._ "But… They're both guys," I told her.

"Yeah, so?"

…_Does she think guy on guy is hot? Ewwwwww._

'_**That's basically the same as 'girl on girl,' right?'**_

_Not… really? Girl on girl is MUCH better in my opinion._

'_**Yes, that **_**is**_** your opinion. And what Rise said is hers.'**_

…_SCREW YOU AND YOUR LOGIC, MAN._ "Oh, hey, wait a minute, can I have my iPod back?"

"Nope," she said immediately. I groaned once again, and I tried to see if I could find it again. Which meant looking down there. "My eyes are up here, Andrew-kun."

"I've made my decision." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kanji sigh and start eating his food. "When can I have it back?"

"Once school's over."

"But I want it _now_."

"You don't need it _now_. You have two, maybe three people to talk with. Music will only make you seem antisocial."

"Can I get it myself?"

She looked at me as if I were trying to shake hands with a lion. In other words: crazy, insane, and downright nuts. "…_No_." Right after saying that she quickly took her phone out of her skirt pocket and started typing something.

"Who-"

"A friend."

"Ah."

She closed her phone and put it back in her pocket. Not a moment later _my_ phone vibrated, signalling I had received a message. I took it out and looked at it.

_**~not in the middle of the class, at least. maybe later ;D~**_

Insert the big, stupid grin on my face here, please.

* * *

**~3:30 PM~**

Just like with lunch, Naoto left the room the moment the bell rang.

"'Sup with that guy?" I asked as I placed my books in my bag. "It's like he's always got somewhere to be or somethin'."

"Ah, don't worry about him," Rise chided. "He's probably just talking with one of the teachers."

"About what, I wonder?"

"How am I supposed to know?" She shook her twin-tailed hair. "Anyways! I've gotta go use the bathroom, so I'll see you guys later." And with that, the girl left the room.

I stared after her. "…Why do girls always have the need to just… _announce_ it like that?"

"I 'unno," Kanji shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't care, either."

"Yeah, I can see that comin' from you."

"Huh-"

I chuckled a little. _I get the feeling that I'm picking on him too much…_ "Nothing, man. Oh, hey, by the way."

"Yeah?"

"Ted accidentally ripped one of my favorite shirts the other day, and I was hoping you could sew it back up for me. You're good with that stuff, right?"

"Oh, uh…" Kanji fidgeted slightly, as if he was embarrassed to admit it.

"Come on, I'm not gonna laugh. I think it's pretty cool that you can do stuff like that. I've never been able to sew properly, even in my old home economics class. You should be happy that you have your own special skills."

I don't think my friend was expecting me to compliment his hobbies, because he was suddenly speechless. "Um… T-Thanks… A-And if you bring that shirt tomorrow, I'll take a look at it. See what I can do."

I nodded. "You're welcome, and thank you. Now come on, let's get going."

"S-Sure thing."

After I finished packing my books, Kanji and I started to leave the classroom until a voice called out to me.

"Andrew-kun?" I stopped and turned. Ms. Omukay had stayed in the classroom and was looking at me with a small smile. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Oh, um." I turned to Kanji and said, "I'll, uh, meet you out in the hall, then?"

"Okay," the guy nodded and left the room.

I walked up to the desk and the teacher started talking immediately. "Did you have a good summer?"

…_Uh?_ "Yeah, it was pretty good. Kind of hurt myself from time to time, but… in the end, it was kind of worth it."

She smiled gently. "That's good to hear. Minor injuries can toughen you up, right?"

_I wouldn't exactly call them 'minor'…_ "Yeah, that's true."

"By the way, how is Rise-chan?"

"She's alright, I guess. I can't exactly say much on her behalf, but... She seems good."

"I'm glad to hear that. You two seem to be getting along well."

"There's, ah, a reason behind that..." I mumbled to myself.

"Also, I heard a rumor that you had gotten yourself in a fight against a couple of thugs."

_Oh shoot I'm about to get in trouble._ "Ah, ahaha... Y-Yeah, that's true..."

She winked at me. "I trust you taught them a lesson and beat them up?"

_...Wha?_ "U-Uh, yes, I... did?"

"That's good. I was a little worried that it was too much for you to handle."

"Ahh, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"But remember-" Ms. Omukay's voice suddenly turned more serious. "-there _will _be battles that are too much for you to handle; you must always be careful. If there's something too strong for you to fight, don't confront it. Run away, as fast as you can. Don't try to defend yourself, don't try to hold them off. Just get you and Rise-chan away from there."

"…" I didn't know what she was talking about. If there was something threatening us, of course I'd try to protect myself. Both me _and_ Rise. And speaking of which, why mention just Rise? Why not add Kanji in there, or any of the others, even? _…Unless… She wouldn't know anything about-?_ "D-Do you know something-"

"Oh, my! Look at the time!" Ms. Omukay suddenly jumped from her desk and grabbed her belongings. "I'm really sorry, but my friend and her daughter are coming over for dinner tonight, and I have to go and make some fish."

"Um… Some, fish, ma'am?"

"Why yes! Her daughter absolutely loves fish, it's almost like she's a cat or something!" The teacher giggled a little, and after saying good-bye, left the classroom with a little hop in her step.

…_She couldn't've known something about Rise-chan's and my… connection, could've she?_

'…_**It may be a possibility. After all, she did mentioned only you and Rise…'**_

_I should probe her for more information… Oh fiddlesticks, Kanji's still waiting!_ I quickly opened the classroom door again and saw the big guy leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. "…Kanji, don't tell me you fell asleep _standing up_."

"I didn't," he said after opening his eyes. "I was waitin' for ya."

"Ah. Well, thanks. Let's go then." _Focusing!_ "Rise-chan's at the shoe lockers right now, so we can meet up with her there."

He shrugged. "A'ight. I don't have much else goin' on today, so you mind if I tag along?"

"Sure thing," I smiled and nodded. He also nodded in response. We turned to walk towards the shoe lockers when we came upon a peculiar scene. "Whoooa, Naoto, scoring with the ladies already, I see."

"I wasn't," the boy replied quickly without a care in the world. "I was just telling these two," he gestured towards the girls - _I think they're in our class…_ "that I had no interest in 'hanging out' with them."

"Aha, I see."

"H-Hey, guys," Kanji said, greeting to Rise and our senpai further down the hall whom I never even spotted. "'Sup?"

"Uh, w-well, we'll be going now," stammered one of the two girls in front of Naoto, and they walked as fast as they could to the lockers.

Once they left and our group's daily greetings had subsided, the seven of us crowded around the new kid. He was _much_ better at dealing with crowds than I was. "Hey, Naoto-kun. If you're not doing anything after school, wanna come with us?" Chie asked the boy.

The boy glanced at the older girl. "Come with…" He seemed a bit confused. "You mean me?"

_Yes, doofuss. Who else in this hallway is named Naoto?_

'_**Who else in this hallway makes comebacks to others in his head?'**_

…_Touché._

"Perhaps… another time," Naoto said after some though. "I _would _enjoy the company of friends, do not be mistaken, but I have some things to mull over."

"'Things to mull over'?" Rise repeated with a tilt of her head.

The capped boy nodded. "I must go straight home today. I promised my Grandpa so."

"'Grandpa'…?" Kanji asked.

Chie sighed, yet understood. "Oh well… That's that, then. Let's hang out some other time."

Naoto nodded and said farewell to us. Once he left, we all followed suit made our way to the Junes food court.

"To be honest," Souji began as we sat around our favorite table. "I wouldn't've minded him coming along with us. We hardly know anything about him."

"Yeah, that's true," Chie nodded, "although that's probably our own fault since he didn't ask him back then at the beach."

_The beach? Aw crud, not again._ I quickly glanced over to Rise expecting to see her in a state of worry.

Again, she wasn't. The girl looked at me with a look of surprise. "What's wrong?"

"U-Uh." _I had thought she would've gotten more depressed at that..._ "N-Nothing."

"But still, did you guys see his attitude?" Yosuke asked as he shook his drink, listening to the sound of it hitting the sides of the cup. "He sure blew his debut at school… Is he gonna be okay at Yasogami?"

"I'm sure the guy can take care of himself," I replied with a firm nod. "I mean, he has the permission of the prefectural police to carry a gun around. I bet anyone who can say that can handle themselves."

"And not only that," Yukiko said, "he has this… mysterious air around him that draws your attention."

"Whoa, Yukiko, I never knew…" Yosuke said, generally surprised. "You like younger guys?" Out of the corner of my eye, Souji's eyes got widened in shock.

"No, that's not what I meant…" Yukiko desperately replied. And then our leader's eyes returned to normal.

"Naoto-kun said he has 'things to mull over,' but he's gotta be talking about the murder case," Chie concluded.

"Mm, yeah, you're right," I replied. "Back during the beach trip, he said that he wasn't satisfied with the result case, even though it _is_ closed…"

"That's true, but…" Chie trailed off. She looked down in sadness before speaking again. "This place isn't our 'special headquarters' anymore, is it…?" She sighed again and shook her head. "Eh, let's talk about something else."

Everyone tried to think of something to say, until Souji's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right, the class trip is coming up soon."

My ears perked up. "Trip? What trip? When was this decided? W-Where are we going? _When_ are we going?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Leader said with a bemused smirk. "I think I heard Ms. Kashiwagi say we were going to Tatsumi Port Island, although I'm not one hundred percent sure…"

"Huh?" Rise stopped idly sipping her drink and she looked up. "Port Island? I did tons of shoots there. It's just beyond the Moonlight Bridge, yeah? Should be lots of places to hang out there."

"HELL YEAH!" I quickly shot out of my seat and jumped in the air. "We're goin' on another trip! About damn time, too!"

"Uh, actually… we may not have any time to goof off during this trip."

_NOOO CHIE WHY MUST YOU BRING MY GOOD MOOD DOWN WHYYYYYYYYYY._

"A-Andrew-kun, don't get all depressed now!"

I sighed. "Thanks, everyone, for getting my hopes up like that."

They all chose to ignore me. _Bastards and bitches. …And Rise-chan._ "I heard the school board is changing the trip's schedule this year," Chie continued. "The idea is, we're gonna visit a private school there. Like, to have local and urban students interact or something." She sighed and shuddered. "It'll be all about studying and serious business… Yuck."

"Ugh…" Rise groaned. "They're _totally_ missing the point of a class trip."

"What kinda place is this private school?" Yosuke asked.

"I heard it's really good," Chie answered him. "They have nice buildings and everything. But it's closed on the day we're going there, so they're going the extra mile to make this work."

"What, they're opening the school just for us?" I asked. I sighed at her nod. "Wow, don't _I_ feel special now…"

"They want us to tour some factories on the second day, and then we're coming back on the third day," Chie said.

Yosuke groaned even louder now. "That's no different from a social studies field trip! Urgh… I didn't want to know that…"

"Can't expect much from a school-sponsored trip, I guess," Kanji said, finally deciding to say something. "Well, we'll be around, so if it starts to drag, we can ditch."

"Heh, that'd be nice," I said. "But does anyone even know around their way around Port Island?"

"I'll show you guys around!" Rise spoke up cheerfully. "I know tons of places we can go to!"

"But… we're in different years," Yosuke sighed.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Souji asked his 'partner.' "This trip will be like the campout. The teacher's are going to combine both the first and second years."

"Yes, that's true," Yukiko agreed. "Since student enrollment is down and they're low on funds, they've cut the excursion back to once every two years."

"Well, at least we won't be bored with you around, senpai," Kanji chuckled.

"It should be, they won't be bored with _us_ around," Rise countered. "Besides, _I'm_ showing everyone the best spots."

"Then maybe someone should remember to bring a map with us," I joked while turning away from her glare.

As soon as that glare vanished, she turned back to her bubbly self. "Gosh, I'm trying to remember the last time I went to Port Island and I wasn't working… This'll be great!"

"I wish I could be that positive about it…" Yosuke mumbled. "Doesn't this seem like a pain in the ass to anyone else?"

"Not at all," I replied to him. "I actually love going on field trips. Besides the campout, I haven't gone on one since… what, seventh grade? Or was it eight…? Can't exactly recall."

"I'm excited for this as well," Souji added. "I've stopped by in Port Island once, but I hadn't actually had a good look around there. I'm looking forward to seeing everything."

"Even though you guys are saying that," Chie said, "some people were against the proposition, even though it's been decided. Oh, and guess whose idea it was? King Moron's."

"Ah- _Morooka's_," I corrected sternly. "He's no longer with us, so the least you could do is show a _hint_ of respect…"

"R-Right…"

"Nooo… King Moron…!" Yosuke grumbled. "Why must you torture us from beyond the grave!"

"H-Hey, what did I just say…?" _Ignored, once again. Sigh._

"Nooo… King Moron…!" Suddenly, Teddie.

"You don't even know who that is," Kanji told him off.

"Hey, tell me more about this trip," the bear said, ignoring the guy. "Where is 'Port Island'? What's there?"

"Get back to work, will ya?" Yosuke growled at him.

"Ehh, I'll tell you more about it later," I told Teddie. His suit's face grinned widely and he bent forward, as if he was nodding.

"Well, even though the class trip is coming up, it's still a ways away," Chie sighed. "Hmm… What shall I do until we go?"

"It's not like we got much to do here in the first place," Kanji noted. "Man is just an animal trying to figure out how to kill time through his days…"

"Huh. You made that sound like you were being philosophical, yet it made absolutely no sense."

_Ouch. Kinda harsh there, Chie-senpai._

"S-Sorry…"

On the other side of Rise, Yukiko tried to hold back a giggle. And failed.

* * *

After another hour or two of just talking with each other, the group disbanded and we each headed for home. However, halfway back to the inn with Teddie and Yukiko, it occurred to me that my girlfriend still had my iPod. Whether it was still down her shirt or not didn't matter, but the fact that she still possessed it needed to change. Getting Teddie to take my school bag, I turned right around and started walking back towards the shopping district.

As I strolled to the front of Marukyu Tofu, Rise's grandmother was making some of the store's product. I knew Rise was there in the house somewhere, but it'd be rude to not go up and say hello. Besides, the old woman didn't know about our connection, and it'd be weird for me to just walk inside. "Excuse me?"

From the counter, Rise's grandma slowly looked up. "Ah, Andrew-chan." _Wait, hang on, 'chan'?_ "How nice to see you again. If you're looking for Rise, she's out in the back."

"Oh, um, thank you." _She knew what I was here for, huh? This woman's smart._

'_**It should be obvious as to why you are here.'**_

_Sigh… Yes, I suppose you're right._

There was a tiny amount of space between the shop and Shiroku Store, so I was able to get to the back without having to go through the rest of the house. When I got to the back I was surprised to see a well-made garden near the end of the lot, with tons of multicoloured flowers protruding from the soil. Of course, seeing as how this was the district, the backyard itself wasn't very big - just a small enough shed to walk into and retrieve gardening tools. "Nice little garden you've got going on there."

Rise herself was on her back porch, leaning against the railings and just looking out at the street behind the fence. "Eh, it's not mine. Grandma works on the garden every time summer comes around. I never really understood why, though."

"Huh. So other than sleeping and making tofu, she like's gardening? I never would've thought."

"Yeah. She never had that hobby from before I came back here, so I was a little surprised to see these flowers in full bloom."

"They're beautiful." I turned my head to her. "And so are you."

She looked at me with amusement in her eyes. "You were just waiting to say that, weren't you?"

"Well it's the truth. And I'm sure you know that already."

"Yep, I do. I get told that everyday by you."

"Heheh… That's right. So, um, what were you doing out here?"

"Ohh, just thinking about something."

"Like what?""A name."

"…What name?"

She smirked and looked back out to the little garden. "Rise Ricketts."

…_Wait what._ "R-Rise… Ricketts?"

"Yyyyep."

"S-So… What you said about a month ago… About us getting married. Were you serious?"

"Hmm… If the two of us are still in Japan when we're old enough, then sure, why not?"

"...'Sure, why not'? What, do you not care or something?"

She shrugged. "Right now, marriage isn't that important. We're still young, right? I only said that to Inoue-san just so I could get him to leave."

A thought occurred to me, somehow. Marriages require rings to seal the deal, and it just so happens that I saw a rather pretty one the last time the two of us had visited Okina city. Of course, it would cost a _hell_ of a lot of cash and a lot of time at Junes…

But I'd do anything for her.

"Well, what would you say if I got you a ring?"

Her head instantly snapped to face me. "A… A ring?"

"Yeah. A real one, not those cheap plastic ones. The kind that costs, like…" _Drat, what was the price of that one from way back then…?_ "30,000 yen or something."

The girl was speechless. Stunned, even. "You'd… You'd buy a ring for me, just like that…?"

"Of course I would. I'd get anything for you if you asked." She didn't say anything at all: the girl was just staring straight at me, her face flushed and her eyes wide. "U-Uh, hey, you alright?"

Rise began to breath heavier and faster, and the look on her face changed from surprise to one of pure happiness. "Y-Yes!" she cried, showing off one of the biggest smiles I've seen on her yet. "I'm more than alright! I-I'm the happiest I've ever been!" All of a sudden Rise ran right at me and jumped into my arms. "Thank you! Thank you, Andrew-kun!"

"Whoa, easy there!" I couldn't keep down the smile creeping its way onto my own face. "I haven't even _bought_ the bloody thing yet."

"I know, but I don't care! I love you so much!"

"I-I love you too! But why are you so happy? I never thought you'd be _this_ excited."

She calmed down. A bit. "A-Ah, well… I-I just always thought that no one would want to buy me anything like that… Nobody showed any real interest in me like this before. They'd only be with me for whatever movie we were making… B-But then you came along and say _that_, and… I just know you love me for the me on the inside. Not just for how I look."

_Well, uh, looks kinda __**do**__ mean something to me, but I can't tell you that, can I?_ "First and foremost, you're beautiful no matter what you look like. And second, I'll always love you because of 'the you on the inside.' Never forget that."

"I won't. I promise. And thank you."

"For what?"

Still hugging me, Rise started to walk backwards until she hit the wall of her house facing the backyard. "For always being there for me. For always trying to cheer me up whenever I'm down." She snuggled right into me. "And for always being the perfect boyfriend a girl could ask for."

"I honestly think I'm not doing that good of a job of being a boyfriend…"

She looked back up at me. "Trust me. You are." Rise stepped on her toes, placed her lips on mine, and kept them there.

After about five minutes of that, I remembered my actual reason for coming here. I pulled my face back and looked deeply into her eyes. "Can I have my iPod back, please?" I asked blatantly.

Rise stared at me with disapproval. "You stopped the kiss because of _that_?"

"U-Uh, if you want, we can continue. But after you give my music back."

The girl groaned and pushed me away. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"Oh yes I know, but I can't help it. I was born hopeless."

She shook her head and walked back up on the porch. "Come on in, then."

"Why thank you, Madame."

She scoffed at me as we both walked inside the house. Her living room was generally the same as when I last visited, except now the TV had been moved from in front of the sliding door leading to the backyard to right at the far end of the room. The big comfy chairs had been moved as well, to the sides of the living room's entrance from the kitchen. "Doing some interior redecorating, I see."

"Mhm," Rise replied as she walked to the kitchen. "Grandma doesn't really like sitting at the living room table since it's so low, so we moved the TV around so she could watch it during meals, too."

"That's pretty smart. Lucky for me and Ted, though, our dinner table is _right_ in front of the TV."

"Well, yeah," she called from the kitchen. "You live at the inn, right? Of course it'd be right in front of the TV."

"Ah, well, yeah. But now we're actually trying to get it set up so that we can use the _bathroom_ at the same time."

"…Uh… Just… Ew."

"Heh, I knew you'd react like that."

"…Alright, now where did I put it to again…? I came in, brought my bag upstairs- Oh that's right, it's up in my room."

I glanced to the kitchen. "If it was in your room, why are you looking in the kitchen?"

"Shut up, I just forgot. Now are you coming upstairs with me or not?"

"Ehh? I'm allowed in your room?"

"Yeah, duh. You've always been allowed in there, you just never asked to go in."

"…Well then how about we go in there now and-"

"Grandma's still in the house, remember?"

"…Aw crap, that's right. Some other time then?"

The redhead walked back into my view with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "You're implying we _will_ do it at some point."

"What, we're not?"

She pursed her lips and glanced to the side. "Mmm… Mmmaaaybe."

"Will you quit teasing me like that? I want a straight answer out of you."

Rise giggled a bit and spun right around. _Oh sure just __**avoid**__ the question, why don't you?_ "C'mon then. My room's just upstairs."

"And your grandmother won't mind me up there with you?" I asked as I followed.

"Not at all. She trusts you a lot. She knows you're not able to do anything like that to me anyways."

"Waaaait, what do you mean 'not able to'?"

She held up a finger to signal me to wait, then walked out to the tofu-part of the building. "Grandma, Andrew-kun and I are going upstairs."

"Okay, dear. Just be ready to come down if I need your help," was the old woman's reply.

"Alright, I will." The girl quickly came back into the house and grabbed my hand. "Allow me to show you the way."

"Certainly," I said to her. She took me up the stairs right next to the door, and brought me into the first room on right.

Rise's room was… not what I expected. I was thinking it'd be full of pictures, posters, and the colors of red, pink and everything in between. But, instead, I saw what was probably one of the most normal-looking rooms I've ever seen.

From the door, a mirror and white dresser/desk combination sat at the wall with plenty of different kinds of make-up, hair brushes and scrunchies, the latter of which were used for her twin tails. On the farther end of the room, directly to my right, was an actual bed instead of a futon, and on it was a vast quantity of pillows, all of them the same kind: beige with a brown trim. Also, right next to the bed was a desk with a laptop on it, obviously the one that she had talked about before. And also on that desk was my iPod.

"Welcome to my room," Rise giggled as she stepped in.

"Wow. It's a lot more… _normal_ than what I had pictured…" I looked around a bit more to see if there were any hidden pictures of herself. Strangely, there were none, besides ones that showed her as a little girl.

"What had you been imagining?" she asked as she turned to face me.

"Like… a little more color to this room, perhaps. Maybe some posters or two, and… some more pictures of when you were older than ten?"

Her mood quickly saddened. "Oh, right…" She cleared her throat, "The room was like this before I moved in, and I never saw the need to repaint it. I was never the kind of person to hang posters up in my room, either, and all of the pictures from before June are still in boxes. That's why there's none of me during my time as an idol."

"Wait wait. From _before_ June?"

"Oh, yeah. See? On the window sill."

She pointed towards her bed, which I just noticed happened to be right underneath the window facing out onto the street. On its window sill was a single picture, being held up by a lovely heart patterned picture frame. She quickly bounced over to it and handed it to me.

The picture was of the two of us, from the time we played volleyball against Kanji and Naoto at the beach, taken most likely by Souji. In the picture, we were hugging each other after we won against our friends.

"You…" I looked up at her smiling face. "When did you frame this?"

"The day after we came back from the beach. I wanted the memory to stay with me, so I printed it off the moment you left that morning."

…_My God… She truly does love me, doesn't she?_

'_**To not have even a picture of her previous friends in her room, I'd say she does.'**_

"Andrew-kun?"

Rise's voice snapped me out of my stupor. I glanced up at her, then back down at the picture. I placed it on the desk and embraced her once more. We kissed, and fell backwards onto the bed.

Of course, nothing like _that_ happened.

_Speaking of which._ "By the way, you never let me get my iPod from you earlier."

"Huh?"

"I asked if I could retrieve it from down your shirt?"

"Oh right. And the answer is no, 'cause I only said 'maybe'."

"Damn."

* * *

**~Monday, September 5~  
****~2:00 PM~**

* * *

The sky was shining brightly today, so I made the decision to hang out with my friends once school came to an end. Unfortunately, they were both working today, and seeing as how I had worked on both Saturday and Sunday, I was all by my lonesome.

That is, until Souji caught me looking at the various fish in the flood plain.

"Ah, Andrew, I was looking for you," was my gray-haired senpai's greeting.

"You were?" I replied as I stood and turned around.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I wanted to talk with you."

"Okay, sure. I don't have much else going on, so why not?"

We made the extremely long trip of walking over to the table on the other side of the road.

"So," my senpai started. "Have you come up with anything yet?"

"Huh?"

"About what you want to do."

"…Eh?"

Souji sighed. "Remember way back in August? We had that talk about your brother working hard and doing his best in order to get what he wanted?"

"…Oh. Right. Forgot about that. Eheheh."

"And… I'm taking that as you _haven't_ been thinking about it that much?"

"…Yeah."

"I see…"

"L-Let me go over this again, to get my mind focused on it." I breathed, cleared my mind, and recalled what I had chose to do. "I wanted to do something that doesn't involve video games that I can do for a living… Something that I can do easily, and something that I enjoy…" I strained my brain for something relating to an answer, but no matter how hard and how long I tried to think, nothing came to me. "Gah… I really _am_ hopeless, aren't I?"

"Don't say that," Souji said. "It's difficult for anyone to try and decide what they want to do. I still haven't exactly chose yet, either."

"You haven't? Well, what kinds of things are you thinking of _maybe_ trying out?"

"I've got a lot of part time jobs now, but I don't have a particularly favorite one. Actually, no, I like all of them. …Ah, well, I could probably do without the hospital job, but… I signed up for it, and I don't have much of a choice. Oh- and being a bartender has been floating around in my mind, but I don't have much experience in that department."

"Huh, a bartender, eh? If you ever open up a bar or something, I'll make sure to fly out here and visit."

"Heh, I'd like that. You'll be paying for the trip with your own money, though."

"Yeah, I… kinda figured that."

"Big bro? Andy?" Suddenly, Nanako.

"Oh hey, Nanako-chan," I greeted her with a smile.

The girl walked up to the table the two of us were sitting at and walked up to Souji's side. "What're you two doing?"

"We were just talking about what we want to be when we grow up," Souji said with a light chuckle. "Andrew says he wants to decide soon, and I was just helping him."

"What you want to be…?" Nanako repeated.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Although it's a little hard to decide with… so many choices, and I can only stick with one..." An idea came to my head, but I wasn't so sure if it was a good one. I said it anyways, though. "Um, hey, Nanako-chan."

"What?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Me?" She asked, and I nodded. "Um… I don't really know… I never really thought about it."

"Huh…"

'_**Perhaps she can help you further?'**_

_How so?_

'_**You could ask her what she enjoys to do. Maybe her hobbies and past-times will lead you to what you are seeking.'**_

_Yeah, maybe…_ "Well then, what kinds of things do you like to do?"

"U-Um… Well, I like to watch quiz shows on TV…"

…_Well that hardly helps._

'_**Just wait.'**_

"But, there _are _some other shows that I watch. Like, um… Featherman R."

"Oh, really? I've seen that show."

"Y-You have?

"Yep. It's pretty good."

Nanako's eyes lit up at the sound of that, as if she were waiting for someone who's watched it to present themselves to her. "Yeah, it is! I've seen it every Sunday for as long as I can remember! Oh oh, did you see that one episode where-"

"Um, Nanako?" Souji suddenly spoke up. "Weren't you going somewhere…?"

"Oh!" Her little hands shot to her mouth. "That's right! I was going to Mai-chan's house!" She quickly hopped down the steps and started running in the shopping district's direction. "Bye, Big bro! Bye, Andy!"

"Bye, Nanako-chan!" was our reply, minus the 'chan' on Souji's part.

When she was out of sight, I thought over what she said. "A quiz show and an… actual show, huh?"

"Maybe… a show's producer or something?" suggested Senpai. "Or the creator of a show?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure…" I sighed. "Television isn't exactly something I'd like to consider, seeing as how it's closely related to games… That it's electronics that has to be, but not always, viewed inside." That last bit was to answer his unasked question.

He huffed out a breath and looked to the clear sky. "I can't say that I know what to tell you."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Senpai. I'll think of something."

He dropped his head again to look right at me. "You mean _we'll_ think of something. You're not the only one a part of this, remember?"

"Oh, right… Heheh…"

"If we can't think of anything on our own, we'll just go out and get you looking at different careers. You _should_ be able to find something that suits you."

I was taken back. I never knew that Souji wanted to help me this badly. I had only thought of him as a spectator, waiting for me to come up with something on my own. But no, he was doing his best to support me in my time of need.

I smiled out of gratitude. "Thank you, Senpai. I appreciate all that you're doing for me."

He smiled back and nodded. "No problem. Anything for a friend."

My smile became a smirk, and I leaned my head on my hand. "Now then, let's talk about you and Yukiko-senpai…"

"W-What…?"

* * *

**~Thursday, September 8~  
****~1:30 PM~**

* * *

Gekkoukan High School is… big.

No, really. Compared to Yasogami, this place is huge. The building was longer than it was tall, true, but the sheer size of it was appalling.

The thing had _three_ _doors _to go into. That's how cool it was.

Needless to say I was kind of envious.

"Well, uh," said Gekkoukan's principal, who was giving a speech about… who knows what. "Next I will explain about our fine education institution and the reasons for its establishment! Uh, I'd like to start with a proverb… 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.'"

"…This sucks," Rise mumbled beside me.

"I have to agree," I whispered back. "It's like this guy only talks so that he can listen to himself…"

"Hey." She turned to me. "You wanna just… go?"

"You mean ditch?"

"Yeah. Nothing better for us to do here."

"But… we might get caught. What if the teacher's catch us?"

"Not if we go quickly and quietly."

"Mmm…" I glanced back to the teachers. The principal was saying that it was a rare opportunity for cultural exchange… or something. "Well… As much as I _love_ this guy's voice, I think it'd be wise for us to go."

Rise chuckled. "I knew you'd see it my way." Since we were near the back of the Yasoinaba group, the two of us crouched down and started making our way to the school's gates. We didn't make a sound, and no one - not even the other students - saw us leave. I nearly tripped and fell over once, but I caught myself just before I could perform a face plant.

We managed to get behind the gate walls without anyone detecting us, thankfully. We stood up straight and started walking down to wherever we were heading to.

"So, now where to?" I asked my girlfriend.

"I dunno. The mall?" she suggested.

"Hmm… I wouldn't mind it, but it would probably be crowded there, seeing as how the other students have the day off…" I looked around for any good places. "Maybe somewhere where there aren't a lot of people? A place that don't regularly have folks?"

"Just for the two of us, huh? Uhm…" She put a finger to her chin. "Lemme think… The only good place I could think of would be this place's shrine, but that's on the other side of town…"

"Well, it's better than nothing, right? I've got some money to spare for the train ride."

She sighed. "Alright, fine. But you're paying for me, too."

"And you'll have to pay me back later."

"_Hai, hai_."

* * *

I have to admit, Port Island and its surrounding locales were a _lot_ better-looking than the places in Inaba. This shrine was in a _much_ better state than the one near Kanji's house. There was even a swing set, a slide, and one of those giant metal bar things that act as a playground here.

"This place is a lot bigger than the one back home…" Rise noted as she looked around. "Hey, wanna make a wish for something?"

"Only if we can use your money. I want to have some for the ride back home…"

She checked her pockets. "I don't have any."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. I spent it all on the train ride here."

"What? You only bought enough to _get_ here?"

"...Yes?"

"Then how are you expecting to get _out_ pf here?"

"…You?"

"Hey, I plan to use my money on this trip. I want to have some for myself, and just enough for me to get back home with. I wasn't expecting to be paying for anyone else."

Rise simply stared at me for a little bit, but before I knew it- _W-W-Waaait wait wait, she's crying?_ "Y-You're going to leave me here…? After all we've been through, you're just going to abandon me in this… unfamiliar and dangerous town…?"

"A-Ah-!" _OH CRUD WHAT DO I DO._ "H-Hey now, don't cry, alright! I never said that! I- …I guess I'll have to pay for your return trip, too…"

"B-But…" she sniffed. "W-What if I want to get something for myself…?"

"U-Uh… Th-Then I'll buy it for you, I guess...?"

Instantly, the tears vanished. "Thanks!" she said cheerfully and pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry, I'll pay you back! I swear!"

_Sh-She was faking it? WHAT!_ I sighed, and figured that arguing was pointless. "Yeah… You better…"

We took 1000 yen from my wallet and split it between us, using the 500 to make a wish at the shrine.

_Oh whichever-Kami-resides-in-this-shrine, I wish… Um, that I will always be with Rise-chan. I wish that nothing will ever happen to us, and that we can live 'happily ever after.' …Oh, and, um, I also wish that I'll get lucky, if you know what I mean. Soon._

I brought my hands apart and glanced over to Rise. She was still praying, so I chose to leave her alone and walk back towards the shrine's front. I noticed a bench in the far corner, so I sat down on it and waited for Rise to finish.

After about a minute of waiting, I heard something. Almost like a growl. I looked around the area, yet saw nothing. The growling got louder, and seemed to be coming from beneath me, so I stood and looked under the bench.

Underneath it was a small white dog with blood-red eyes. Its ears were standing right up, and its teeth were gnashed out, as if it was trying to ward me away.

"Whoooa." I backed up a bit. "Easy there, fella. I don't mean any harm." Its growling died down a bit, but it was still there. I knelt down a bit to look at it on its eyelevel. "It's alright, we're not gonna hurt you or anything." My affection for animals quickly took over, and I soon found myself holding out my hand to it. "C'mere, boy. Or girl. I just wanna pet you…"

All of a sudden the dog's growling ceased. I think I heard it sniff, and then, slowly, carefully, it started to come out from underneath the bench. When it reached my hand and realized that I would do nothing to hurt it, it cautiously sniffed my hand. Its nose was cold and wet, like all dogs', but I said nothing. After a few seconds it looked up to me and cocked its head, whining a little.

"Hm? What's wrong?" I asked it, knowing full well that it wouldn't respond.

"Ohhh, a dog!" Rise was suddenly kneeling down beside me. "He looks so cute!" She moved her hand to pet it, but the dog quickly backed away a bit, still wary of the shrine's newcomers.

"Hang on, Rise-chan," I said. "You've gotta let them smell you first, to make sure you're not a bad person."

She scoffed. "As if anyone could mistake _me_ for a bad person." Despite saying that, she still slowly placed her open palm out for the dog to sniff it. "C'mon, boy. C'mere."

As if unsure of what to do, the dog looked over to me. I chuckled at the sheer adorability at it, and I nodded my head to tell it that the girl was safe.

Well, kind of safe.

The little beast looked back to Rise, then gently sniffed her fingers before doing so with a little more force. Rise giggled at the cold touch of its nose, stating that 'It tickled a bit.'

After a little more sniffing, the dog looked back up to Rise and once again cocked its head. It started to look between us in confusion. "What's wrong, boy?" I asked it. "Do we smell bad?"

"Hey! I don't sm-"

"Arf!" it barked, as if in confirmation.

"Wha-!"

I wasn't expecting a bark, but I nonetheless pulled out my shirt's collar and sniffed myself. "Hm? I know _I_ don't smell bad… I put deodorant on before we left earlier…"

"I did, too…" Rise silently replied. "Oh-" She giggled slightly. "You don't suppose he's smelling the Shadows on us?" I didn't pay much attention to it, but I'm sure the dog's ear perked up at that.

"Heh, maybe. I mean that stuff gets all over us when we go in for a kill."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the little guy could smell… whatever they leave behind. Dogs' noses are supposed to be good at finding scents, right?"

"Yeah, that's true."

Suddenly the dog started barking frantically. It turned around and started running in circles, as if it were trying to tell us something. "What's up, boy?" Rise asked it. "Something wrong?"

"Arf arf!" the dog cried.

"I think he's trying to tell us something," I said. "Although… I'm not sure what." The dog continued barking and running around, trying to tell us whatever he wanted to tell us. "You… You don't think he _knows _about… Shadows, and our Personae and all that, do you?"

"Arf! Arf arf arf!" it cried again.

Rise and I stared at it, turned to each other, and back at it.

…

"Nah," we said simultaneously.

"There's no way a dog could have a Persona," I said with a hint of laughter.

"Or could it be able to enter the TV," Rise nodded.

The little dog stared up at us, its ears suddenly flopping down around its head. It let out a breath like it was sighing, and started walking back to the bench, this time hopping up on it and lying down instead of going under it.

"Is... he tired?" I wondered out loud.

"He could be," my girlfriend said. "Maybe we should leave him alone and go somewhere else."

"Yeah, sure," I nodded, and stood up to my full height. "Not much else to do here, anyways, unless we want to go on the swings like little kids…"

"Heh. No thanks, Andrew-kun. I'm not exactly a fan of swing sets."

"Why not?"

"When I was younger, I got my hair caught up in the chains that they hang off of. It hurt like _hell_ until the teachers could cut the stuff off…"

"Ouch, they _cut_ it off?"

"Yeah. They couldn't untangle it or it would've hurt even more…"

"Aw, geez… We oughta stay away from the playgrounds, then, huh?"

"Yeah, that'd… be wise, I guess."

"Anyways, we're disturbing the little guy." I glanced back to the white dog, who seemed to have already fallen asleep. "Let's go before we wake him up again."

"Right."

* * *

**~7:30 PM~**

After the two of us walked around the town a bit, we met up with the others and sneaked our way back into the group. No one besides our friends knew we were gone, but being the good sports they were they didn't rat us out.

It turned out that the whole group was in the middle of trekking back to the hotel we were staying at, and when we arrived there, there were some… colorful remarks from the other students.

"Is this… really a regular hotel…?"

"We're staying _here_…?"

"The sign says hotel and everything, but…"

"It opened recently? Dude, this looks like one of _those_ hotels!"

"'Those hotels'?" I repeated the words I had heard. "What does he mean?"

"There's something funny about this place, isn't there…?" Yosuke said, ignoring my question.

"You think so?" Chie replied. "We don't have these modern hotels in Inaba, so I can't tell."

"U-Um…" Rise started stammering, and for some reason her face was completely red. She also had a rather large smile on her face as she glanced away. "This area is called 'Shirakawa Boulevard, and it's-"

"OH!" I finally got it, and showed it off by slamming a fist into my palm. "One of _those_ hotels! Aha, I understand! This is totally a lov-" Everyone quickly turned to me in shock. And then it started to dawn on me. "…O-Oh, crud, one of _those_ hotels? Wait, w-we're actually staying in one of them? Are the teachers even going to allow that?"

"Well, a teacher _booked_ it for us, so who knows…" Souji frowned as he looked up to the roof.

"G-Guys and girls are on separate floors, right?" Yukiko stuttered. "…R-Right?"

"I-I don't know why they wouldn't be," Kanji mumbled.

"Hmhmhm… Faster than I expected… This is quite the hotel. If they were to meet me… I wonder, what would the look on Andy's face be…?"

"HUH!" Everyone quickly looked around to find the owner of that mysterious voice. "W-Who's there!" I shouted, seeing as how they were addressing me.

"Look! Up there!" Yosuke shouted, pointing to the roof of the adjacent building.

"It can't be…!" Yukiko gasped.

"Hyaaa!"

And then, Teddie-

_*CRASH*_

-landed in a garbage can, although he instantly righted himself and started walking towards us, humming his own little tune as if nothing happened at all.

"Teddie!" Kanji shouted. "What're you doing here?"

"The lonely bear inside of me went stir crazy!" the guy cried.

"H-How did you come here!" Chie yelled. "Do you have some special ability?"

"No, I took the train," Ted replied, suddenly calm again. "I swore off Topsicles and saved up the money I got working at Junes. I knew where you were going, thanks to Andy telling me about this place last week."

"I knew that'd come back to bite me in the ass…" I sighed.

"You guys have free time tomorrow, right? No use hiding it! I already know!"

"How in the world did you make it here looking like _that_?" Yosuke asked loudly. "I mean, why wear the bear suit here!"

"I almost got thrown in the trash a couple times because of it…" Teddie said gloomily. "But I kept hanging onto the promise Chie-chan made to go on a date with me! That's what gave me strength to carry on!"

"Uh, g-good job, Teddie…" Chie fake-approved. "D-Did I promise that…? Oh yeah… I do remember saying that I'd go out with you someday…"

_Yosuke looks like his lid's about to blooow~!_

"Wheeee!" Teddie cheered. "You remembered Chie-chan! Is it okay with Yuki-chan and Rise-ch-" _EVIL GLARE EVIL GLARE EVIL GLARE. _"…J-Just Yuki-chan, too…?"

"Let's all go together, then," Yukiko suggested. "Is that all right with you?"

"Mmm…" Teddie was disappointed, but otherwise agreed. "It's a deal!"

"I've been here before," Rise announced, "so I'll show everyone around tomorrow." She looked up in thought. "I guess we can go shopping first. And I know a _great _place we can hit later on."

"Ooh, shopping! That sounds like fun!" the bear was already ecstatic.

"The other students don't know Port Island that well, so they're just gonna go wherever the school recommends," Chie explained.

"Well, I guess a shopping spree beats a factory tour," Yosuke assumed. "Alright, we're in too."

Rise giggled. "Leave it to me."

"Now then, before the fun starts," Souji spoke up, glancing at Teddie. "We've got a bear to deal with."

"Hey, can't you sleep outside for the night?" Kanji asked him. "That suit should keep ya nice and cozy."

Ted's eyes shot open. "C-Cruelty to animals!" he shouted. "You don't know how much trouble I went through to get here! I took the slow train all this way! Do you here! _The slow train!_"

The doors suddenly opened and out walked- _**AHHHHHHH A MONSTER GET IT AWAY IT'S HIDEOUS!**_

"Now now, you kids aren't bickering about your room allocations, are you?" Senpai's new teacher asked us.

"Crap…!" Chie whispered.

"What's the matter?" _it_ asked. _It's_ eyes were suddenly drawn to Teddie. "…Oh? What's this giant teddy bear?"

"I-It's, um, ah…" Souji quickly glanced around, trying to come up with an answer. "A-A souvenir! Y-Yeah…"

"My… It's so big…" said the teacher. _OH GOD __**WHAT**__. "_Go on, hurry inside with it. By the way, these rooms are amazing. Every room has a waterbed! But, um, don't flip the wrong switch when you're turning on the lights, or your bed will start spinning." And the… 'human being,' promptly walked back into the unique hotel, but not without a glare of disgust directed towards the redhead beside me.

"A-Anyways," Chie quickly spoke up. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"Yeah, but I'm exhausted…" Yosuke complained. "For so many reasons…"

"Then you guys go on in and get some sleep," Souji commanded. "I'll figure out what to do with Ted."

"A-Alright, then," Yukiko sighed. "See you later…"

"'Night, senpai," the three first-years said to him, and we made our way inside.

* * *

The beds were certainly waterbedy, except they were circles. And because there weren't that many rooms, we were expected to sleep four-to-a-room. How we were supposed to do that, I don't even know.

Another funny thing: ironically, Kanji and I were put into a room together. One of the other two guys was 'apparently' sick and couldn't come on the trip, but the funny thing?

The funny thing was, the other person in our room was Naoto.

Judging from his continuous tossings and turnings and loud sighs, Kanji didn't sleep a wink.

* * *

**So we're finally in Port Island huh...? Heheh, guess what's happening next chapter ~!**

**Anyways, I got a problem: remember when I started this story, I said I was going on a trip across the country? Yeah, well, we're going back now, and once again we're driving. We'll be leaving next Saturday, in a week, so if I don't get a new chapter in by Friday then don't expect one for another little while.**

**Of course, the hotels I'll be staying in _may_ have internet connection, and I will most definitely be working on the story throughout the whole thing, so there's a chance that I can get another chapter in while on the road. All hope is not lost, it seems.**

**Welp, I'll see all of you later! Ciao for now!**


	28. Kings Game and More

**Fast update is fast, ain't it? Although the majority of this chapter was game script (KING'S GAME YEEEEAH), I worked vigorously on my own parts. Like I said last time, I'll be going back across the country, so there will be little to no chance of an update during the upcoming week. Just thought I should let ya'll know.**

**Reviews:**

**Hishin Trueflame:** YEEEAH KING'S GAME YEEEAH!

**Dragoon Swordsman:** Glad to see that you're still reading this fic! Yeah, I can't stand Kashiwagi myself, but the fact that she chooses a love hotel spawned some... interesting ideas in my brain.

**anon:** So did I.

**P4anonman:** ...Um, er, uh, ah, eh, yeah. BUT, so know one knows what the hell we're talking about, I deleted your review. Forgive me, but... that's kind of a major spoiler. Hopefully no one else read it... Eheheh... Also, regarding the crossover, I've got something to correct on that, but you'll have to wait 'til the end of the chapter.

**Dragonmaster TC:** Koromaru hooray! And, actually, yes, someone else will appear, but who it is is a secret! ;P Well, until you read down a bit. Heh.

**Disclaimer: Persona 4 belongs to Atlus, and I own the Ricketts family. Just telling you now.**

**ALSO: Um, a warning to you all. The end of this chapter contains some... 'mature themes,' if you will. I'm not sure how many of you are willing to read that, ****so I'm just telling you now. When the hints start coming around, you'll know.**

* * *

**~Friday, September 9~  
****~9:00 PM~**

* * *

The moment Rise opened the double doors for us, the loud thumping of the beat practically split my head wide opened. Doing my best (and failing) to ignore it, the music itself was pretty good, even though it was only a recording. Hell, there wasn't even a band on stage playing. Despite this, the many people already in Club Escapade were crowded around the microphones and drum set, as if there actually _was_ a band performing right in front of them.

"Whoa…! So this is a club…!" Kanji realized as we all took a look around. The general color for this place was a dark blue, but in the center of the room was a circle made up of a lighter shade of blue. In that circle was the club's name in bright pink letters. Surrounding the walls were large speakers, blasting the song that was currently playing right into our eardrums.

"Whoo!" Chie cried as she lifted her arms in the air. "I'm totally ready for this!"

"There's nothing like this back home…" Yukiko marvelled, looking at all of the people dancing in front of us.

"This place looks so awesome…!" I stated. I had never been to a club before (obviously because I'm underage) but the first trip to a place you've never been to is always the best.

Us seven students, plus a bear, started walking over to a set of stairs leading to an upper level, only to be greeted by a boy in a blue cap.

"Is it permitted for high school students such as yourselves to be here?" Naoto asked upon stopping in front us.

"Wh-What! Dude, looks who's talking!" Yosuke shouted at the little guy. "You were here before we were!" He sighed and rubbed his neck. "That's right, I guess if the first-years came on the trip, you'd be here too…"

Naoto looked over to the bar, at the people sitting down and drinking, then at the ones on the dance floor. "The clientele here seems above-board, so I don't expect there'll be any problems."

Without another word, Naoto began to walk passed us towards the door. "Huh? You're leaving?" Chie asked him.

"I have no further business here," the guy explained, stopping to turn to her, "so there is little point in me staying."

"Why don't you join us?" Yukiko asked.

Naoto's eyes widened at this. "Are you… asking me to stay?"

_Yes, you idiot. Sheesh… for an 'ace detective,' this guy sure is dense…_

'_**Perhaps he's not used to being invited to stay with you all?'**_

…_Why do you __**always**__ have to bring logic into these things?_

It seemed that I had missed a few lines of dialogue while talking to my dragon, for when I returned to the other conversation, I heard Rise speaking. "I was really eager to talk to you. I'm curious how someone my age is working as a detective."

"Wait, what…?" I whispered to myself. My gaze turned to Rise, who was smiling gently at the blue haired boy.

Said boy looked down to the ground in an attempt to find an answer, but after some more probing from Yukiko he finally gave in. "Hmm… Very well, if you insist."

"Huh?" said Yosuke, who had a wry smirk. "What's up? You look a little red…"

"Th-That's not true!" Naoto insisted.

I squinted my eyes. "Dude, you're lying. Your face is totally red." He said nothing, although he did bring his cap down to cover his eyes.

Rise suddenly turned to us. "Wait here. I'll go reserve the area upstairs."

"Okay," Yosuke nodded. She left for the bar, but he suddenly realized what she said. "…Wait, what? Reserve?"

"Yep," Rise nodded. "Don't worry, I think I can pull some strings." And then she continued on her way to the bar.

As I watched her walk, my eyes wandered around the room more. Everyone was still dancing to the song, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Kanji had his entire body facing the other way. "…Kanji? Something wrong?"

He glanced over his shoulder, but his head instantly dropped again. "N-No, I'm fine."

"You sure?" I walked around him to look him in the eye. "…Hey, your face is red, too."

Kanji's head snapped up to me. His hands covered his face, as if hiding it would make me forget. "No no, it's not! I'm totally fine!"

I raised an eyebrow, but then remembered that he was in the presence of a certain Shirogane. "Ahh, okay. If you say so."

"So then, shall we be going upstairs?" Souji asked everyone. His head was turned to the bar, and when I looked Rise was gesturing us to 'go up there, already, ya morons.'

"Yeah, let's go!" Chie nodded enthusiastically. "I'm so pumped!" Everyone nodded in agreement, and as they made their way upstairs-

"Andrew-kuuuun!" came the call of a sweet and soothing voice. Rise was motioning her hand to get me to come over.

"Be right up, guys," I told the others and walked right over to her. "What's up?"

"I need you to carry the drinks for me," was her instant reply. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder to show me that the bartender had already made nine drinks for the group.

"…Wow, that was fast."

"Yeah. This guy's really good and making drinks. He set the speed record for making the most drinks within ten minutes."

"Seriously?" I looked up to the bartender, who only nodded towards me. "That's impressive."

"It is," my girlfriend said. "Now come on, you need to take the drinks for me."

"…Okay now, wait a second. I was spending all of my money today for you. I had to buy you your dinner _and_ supper. We went shopping, and you bought five or six different outfits, plus you made me carry _all_ of the bags. And now you're expecting me to carry all of these drinks for you, too?"

"Yeah."

"…Fine." I carefully lifted the tray and slowly but surely walked up the stairs with Rise close behind me. When we got up there, we saw the others already had sat down on two sofas lined up against the back wall. Both were red, but one was much bigger than the other. Souji, Kanji, Teddie, Yukiko and Chie lined the larger one, while Naoto and Yosuke sat on the smaller one. Seeing as how there was no more space on the big one, Rise and I sat next to Yosuke once I set the drinks down on the circular table in front of the seats. I sat right next to the older guy while Rise tried her best to stay on the little couch.

"I'd like to declare a toast!" Rise announced, taking her drink from the table and raising it above her head.

"A toast… for what?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow.

"I 'unno. Just 'cause."

"…Eh. Works for me!" He, too, took a glass from the table, and soon everyone had their drinks raised over their heads.

"Are you sure this is all right?" Chie asked after we took a sip. "Isn't it expensive…?"

"No worries," Rise replied. "Two years ago, when I had a secret show here, the power went out in the middle of it, and the gig was cancelled. They still owe me from then, so they're willing to put this one on the house."

"Thank goodness, too," I sighed in relief. "If I had to use anymore of my money on you, I'd be stuck here with no way to get home." She only stuck her tongue out at me.

"Well, in that case," Chie said. "I'm gonna order more."

"Whooooooo!" Teddie, who was no longer in his bear costume, cheered. "I'm not gonna hold back either!"

…_Okay that sounded strange, even from Ted._

"Dude…" Kanji said. "You sound even weirder today…"

"Awww, you're sho cold, Kanji…" _Is he… drunk or something? He's slurring his words…_ "Hm… Kanji?" The bear's face showed sings of thought for once. "Kanji, Kanji… I _Kanj-ecture_ that shomething's up!" _…Oh God not more puns._ "That's a great one!" he giggled.

"Wow, you're pretty energetic already…" Souji sighed.

"'Kanj-ecture'…" Yukiko repeated before suddenly bursting out into laughter. There was an unnaturally large blush on her face, too.

"…She's losser'n usual too…" Kanji stated the obvious.

"Hey, wait a sec!" Yosuke shouted. He stared at his drink for a moment, and then quickly held it away from him. "Are these liquor…!"

"I-I told 'em to give us soft drinks!" Rise shouted back. Her face, too, was completely red. "They're non-alcoholic!" She groaned loudly, "I told them. Really, I did! Really!" And all of a sudden she latched onto my arm and started bawling her eyes out.

"A-Ahh… Rise-chan…?" I asked, but got no response.

"Aw, sheesh… I was wondering why it's so hot…"Chie moaned.

Souji took a glass in his hand and sniffed it. "I don't think this is alcohol… This smells like-"

Without warning, Rise's tears stopped flowing, her arms unwrapped themselves from my arm, and she stood up. "King's Gaaaaaaaame!" she shouted, gaining the attention of everyone, even the still-laughing Yukiko and Teddie.

"Wh-Wha?" I asked.

"Times like this, adults play the King's Game. It's the _law_…" She hiccupped, and I tried my best to control my laughter.

_But, seriously though, she only had one sip of her drink, didn't she? Same with the other two… Lightweights, I guess?_

Rise's fists suddenly clenched and she held them over her chest. "What's the problem…? They make me act like a ditz, call me Risette n' stuff, and then say I'm a kid… It's sooooo obvious… Those wrap parties get a lot funner after I go home!" She stomped her foot into the floor and screeched, "Moroooons! I'm gonna play the King's Game now, and ain't _no one _gonna stop me!"

"Ai yi yi, when did she get so drunk?" I asked aloud, although I was rather amused by this spectacle. She was swaying from side-to-side dangerously and threatened to fall over, so I grabbed onto her wrist and yanked her back onto the small couch.

"Yet another side of Rise exposed…" Yosuke grumbled. "I wonder if she knows what she's saying…"

"Andrew-kuuuun!" she cried out again. This one, however, was not as sweet and smoothing as the one from earlier. This one was more loud and demanding.

"W-What!" I shouted back. "You don't need to ye-"

"Get the chopsticks ready!"

"H-Huh! What?"

"The King's word is law! Chop-chop!" And with that she pushed me off the couch and over towards the stairs.

"Alright alright, no need to push! Sheesh…"

I walked down the steps and up to the bar. There was another man there now, but judging from his clothes he looked a _tad_ intimidating. "Um-" I got the bartender's attention. "I need… Uh, nine chopsticks please. Well, um, four pairs, and an extra one, I guess…"

"King's Game, right?" the bartender chuckled, possibly overhearing Rise's shouting upstairs. I nodded. "I've seen that before. You're gonna need a couple a' markers, too."

"We are?"

"Yeah. It's the rules of the game. I'm sure your friends will go over it with you. Hang on, let me get them for you."

He ducked down below the counter to retrieve the things, and as I waited a new voice spoke up, this one _a lot_ more gruff than I would've preferred. "Aren't you a little young to be here?"

I knew it was the very scary-looking person next to me, yet I still turned my head to see him. He had on a rather large, burgundy trench coat that reached his knees, and there was a skullcap sitting tightly on his head. Shaggy brown hair fell out from under that hat, and the look on his face told me to give him the right answer if I wanted to keep my legs. "U-Um… Y-Yeah, but I'm here with Rise-cha- I-I mean, Rise Kujikawa. She said it was okay to be here, so…"

"Kujikawa, huh…" The man was lost in thought until he glanced over to me. "Don't get into any trouble, or I'll have to kick you guys out."

_Oh crud, a bouncer?_ "W-We won't, I promise! I'll make sure nothing happens."

He only nodded, and resumed to drinking his drink. The bartender came back up and broke apart five sets of chopsticks and put one of them back under the bar. He took a red marker, drew a small circle on one stick, then took a black marker and wrote the numbers one-through-eight on the others. After all that, he took a small cup and placed them in there. "Don't do anything to dangerous, you hear?"

"Heh?" Without saying anything further, he shooed me away to make room for more customers. "What did he mean by that?" I asked myself as I ascended the stairs. When I got to the top, I took note that Rise had stolen my spot. "Aw, c'mon, that's not cool."

"This spot was gettin' lonely," she slurred when I got there, "so I had to keep it comp'ny…"

"Gee, thanks." _Have to admit though, I kinda like her like this… A lot._ I set the cup down in the middle of the drinks and squeezed in right next to my drunken girlfriend.

"U-Um…" Chie spoke up. "What's this King's Game again?"

"Okay," Yukiko started in her own drunkenness. "One chopstick makes you the King if you draw it, and the others have numbers on 'em… The King picks a number and says what that person has to do." She giggled immensely. "But who has which number is a secret until the King gives the orders!"

"Senpai, you're such an adult!" Rise giggled herself. "You tell 'em!"

"Y-Yukiko, where'd you learn this stuff!" Chie asked quickly.

Yukiko only giggled some more, so Souji spoke for her. "Maybe at the people who went to her inn played it there?"

"…Actually that's pretty reasonable," Yosuke said.

"C'mon, everyone draw!" Rise shouted, and immediately went for a stick. To do so, she had to stand up. And while she was up, I thought quickly and scooted back over to my spot.

"Hey, Rise-chan, can ya get one for me, too?"

"Sssss_ure_. Wwww_whatever_."

I couldn't stop myself from chuckling. Rise plucked two chopsticks while everyone got their own, and when she went to sit down again- "Uh, hey, you're… sitting on me."

"Huuuh…?" She turned her head around. "Oh, Andrew… Didn't see you there…"

_Wait, one sec, wha? Just Andrew this time?_ "Um… You got my stick?"

She suddenly started laughing. "Hahaha! _Good_ one, Andrew!"

"I… I didn't say a joke." She apparently didn't care, 'cause she was still laughing. "Just hand me my chopstick, woman."

"Here, here… *hic* Heehee…" She threw her hand over her shoulder and hit me in the head with the chopstick. "Okay, sooooo… Who's the King?"

I looked at the number. _Four, huh? Damn. I wonder who-_

Teddie immediately stood up and stared right at his chopstick. "Teddie's is red! Red! Is Teddie the King!"

_...Oh Christ, why did that have to happen?_

"Ugh, we're already doomed from the get-go…" Yosuke mumbled. He then looked at me. "And when the hell did she wind up sitting on you?"

"I dunno. And quite honestly, I don't really care," I answered. He only grunted and looked back at Ted.

"I, the King, command thee to smooch the King without delay! Smoooooch!"

_Uhh… That's not good._

"S-S-S-Smooch!" Chie cried.

"Please God… Grant me a girl! Number… three!"

"Gyaaah!" cried Kanji as he stood up. He was looking at his chopstick, then at Ted, both in disbelief.

"I-I meant two!"

"Hey, no take-backs!" Yosuke shouted at him.

"Smooch, smooooch!" Yukiko laughed.

Teddie looked like he was about to cry, but he nonetheless turned to the big guy. "K-Kanji… So you _were_ after my fuzzy fur!" _Wait, __**WHAT**__? That sounded wrong!_ "Ooookay, but it's my first time! Be gentle…!" _That sounded even __**more**__ wrong!_

Kanji tried to back away from him, but the bear actually leapt on top of him and forced him to the floor with a crash. "Whoa!" Kanji yelled. "Ow, quit that! Don't make me flatten you, dammit!" Teddie grinned and puckered his lips. "Aaaagh! Nooooo! Heeeelp!"

I turned away at the sound of the smooch. _That's just wrong, that's just wrong, so totally sick and wrong…_

"Ohooo…" Rise seemed mildly enjoyed, though. "Only the first round, and two contestants have dropped out already!"

"Huh?" I leaned my head to the side to look at her. "Since when was it like a contest?"

She ignored my question and jumped off of my lap. "On to round two!" she shouted. She looked over her shoulder to me. "This time, _you're_ getting mine, too!"

"Mm… Alright, fine." I got up (and grunted in annoyance when Rise re-stole my spot) and reached out for two chopsticks. I randomly chose one and handed it to Rise, who groaned when she looked at it.

"Aww man, I'm not the King!" She was a little too happy about that.

Sitting down on the edge of the couch, I looked at mine.

…

…

…_It's red. It's… red!_

"So, who _is_ the King?" Rise immediately asked when everyone sat down again.

"Umm… Me." I raised my hand.

Chie turned to me the moment I spoke. "Phew, someone decent," she sighed in relief. "No crazy orders this time…"

"Ah ah ah!" Yukiko giggled. "That's not how it goes! If the last King demanded a smooch, then the next order's gotta be _more _extreme." Her head swayed a bit too much and it landed on her best friend's shoulder. "Chiiieee, don't be such a party pooper… Ahahaha!"

"Heyyy! The person who gets picked should have to rest their head on the King's lap!" Rise leaned forward in her seat in excitement.

_Huh?_

"Nah, make 'em sit on his lap," Yukiko countered, her head back up straight.

_What?_

"Oh! Or they could have to hug him!"

_That's not-_

"Better than that… A piggyback ride!"

…_Wait, whaaaa?_

Everyone's heads turned towards me. "C'mon, King! Who's gonna do what!"

"U-Um…" I looked at each and every one of them. "A-Actually," I stammered, since it was _everyone_ who was staring at me. "I… honestly don't think all of that is more 'extreme' than a smooch…" I put a hand to my chin and thought really hard. "Um, let's see… What's worse than a kiss…?"

"Wha-! Y-You're actually gonna go farther than that?" Chie asked.

"Heheh… Um, yeah… Now shut up, I'm thinking." _What's more extreme than a kiss…? Wyvern, any suggestions?_

'_**None that I can think of.'**_

_Crap… Um… Ah… Nothing that involves stripping or something… Making out? Naw, too close to a smooch… Hmm…_

"Hurry up, _King_!" Rise bellowed, swaying a bit back and forth. "Or you'll have to give up your _title _'n give it to someone else! *hic*"

"Uh-" _Aw screw it I'm going back to the kiss…_ "Alright, um… The number I call out… must give _me_ a smooch."

"What!" Chie shouted. "Not this again!"

"Sorry, I couldn't think of anything."

"You could've gone with one of their suggestions!"

"But that's not as extreme as a smooch!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Rise shouted at the girl. "The King's word is…"

"Absolute!" Yukiko finished, as if that whole thing was planned. "Ahaha!"

"Alright then, umm…" I glanced at every pair of eyes that was focused on me. I gulped. _Please be Rise-chan, please be Rise-chan, please be Rise-chan._ "I choose… number… f-five."

"…Th-That's me…!"

…_Voice recognition completed. Identity of voice: Naoto Shirogane. Activating 'Oh Crap, No' mode._ "Oh crap, no, I-I mean number one! One!"

"Once again, no take-backs!" Yosuke shouted in a laugh. "Looks like you're unlucky this time, dude!"

"Noooo no no no no! The King's word is law, so I say number one!"

"You said _five_ first, though!" Rise started laughing uncontrollably. "And you _have_ to stick with the first one! Heehee!"

"…Gaaaaah this ain't cool. This is _sooooo_ totally not cool."

"C'mon, King!" Yukiko laughed. "Kiss the Prince already!"

"…A King kissing a Prince, huh…?" Yosuke chuckled underneath his breath. "Now that's something you don't see everyday."

"That's just… gross to think about," Souji shuddered.

I thought about it, too. "Ew." And shuddered as well.

"Hurry up!" Rise shouted again. "Or you have to pay 10,000 yen to each person in the game!"

"What! Is that how the rules go?"

"The King will have to pay his guests because he couldn't entertain them…! Haha…"

I sighed. There was no way out of this one. "How the hell did I get wrapped into this?" I glanced over to Naoto, who seemed to be in his own little world right now. _…He's not imagining how it will go, is he? I surely hope not._ "Naoto."

"Huh!" The boy's head shot up to meet me. His eyes were wide with shock and the blush from earlier had returned, only becoming a _lot_ more deeper.

"…C'mon, let's get this over with…" I stood up and nervously walked towards him. He took one big breath of air to calm himself, then stood up with me. I gulped again and looked him in the eyes - _Holy shit he looks just like a girl. …That's it! Imagine he's a girl!_ I, too, took a breath, then quickly pecked him on the lips and sat down again.

And he stood there. Dumbfounded.

"That wasn't a smooch!" Rise shouted at me after hitting my arm. "You're s'pose ta keep it there for at least a minute! Do a do over!"

"What! I am _not _doing that again! You're lucky I even bothered to agree with it!"

She lowered her eyelids. "You talkin' back to _me_, boy?" she deadpanned.

"…Yes."

"…'Kay."

I turned my gaze to out over the balcony and sighed in relief. _Drunken Rise can be scary… But now that I think about it… His lips were soft… In a totally not gay way._

I looked back to the group to see that Naoto had sat back down already, but more importantly, Kanji and Teddie had reappeared. "W-Where did you guys go?"

"Ted had to go to the washroom and didn't know where it was…" Kanji sighed.

"Ohh… Well, I hope he made it…"

"Ahahaha!" Yukiko suddenly started laughing. At first I thought it was because of what I said, but then, "Me next! Me! I'm the King! …Actually, the Queen!"

"What! We drew chopsticks already?" I asked.

"No!" Yosuke answered loudly. "No one did!"

"Alright, then… Let's have someone talk about something reeeeally embarrassing that they'd _never_ wanna tell anyone! Hmm… let's see…" She looked around at each of us and found her target. "Ah! Naoto-kun! I choose you!"

_Naoto? But he's already been a part of this… Why not Yosuke or Souji? __**He's**__ hardly said a word up till now…_

"She's breaking all the rules…" Yosuke said with displeasure. "Just ignore her, Naoto."

"N-No…" The capped kid in question, apparently not as traumatized as I would have expected him to be, took a deep breath and turned his head to our senpai. "No… That won't be necessary." He looked at all of us. "One stipulation though: If I do this, the rest of you must reveal 'something' as well."

_Oh crud he's thinking about the case, isn't he! _"Um, I don't-"

"Okaaay!" Rise interrupted me.

The Investigation Team's eyes darted towards an oblivious Rise, yet Naoto continued without noticing that. "No particularly embarrassing experiences come to mind… Would discussing my life be fair game? It's the rare situation like this that gives me call to speak of such things."

"Daaaamn…" Yosuke mumbled. "Way to kill the mood…"

Ignoring Yosuke, Naoto though over his course of action and began: "The Shirogane family has been detectives for generations now. We lend our powers to the police from time to time."

"For generations?" Chie interrupted. "Wow, it's like that guy from a movie I watched before. What was his name… Kuzu…noha?"

"A detective movie?" Souji spoke up after being so silent for a while. "I thought you were only into action movies?"

"W-Well, it had some actions scenes, too…"

"…If I may…" Naoto said impatiently. Souji and Chie quickly shut up and allowed him to continue. "As I was saying… In days gone by, when there were no crime scene investigators, consulting detectives were considered more valuable. Thus, my grandfather still has a strong connection with the police and looks after me, despite my youth and inexperience. But investigators nowadays are well versed in science and medicine, so I must further my studies."

"That sounds tough…" Yosuke muttered. He waited for Naoto to continue, but it seemed that he was finished. "…Wait, that's it? No punch line?"

He looked back up to Yosuke. "Ahm… I fear you may be looking to the wrong person for that."

"That's sooo embarrassing!" Yukiko suddenly called out, laughing all the while. "Isn't Naoto-kun embarrassing?"

We all sighed at her. "I wanna go home…" said my headphoned-senpai.

"Phew…" Rise huffed out some air. "I'm sleepy…" And then she instantly laid her head on my shoulder and dozed off. Apparently Naoto had the power to make the drunken fall asleep.

"…_I_ don't think I want to leave anytime soon." I told Yosuke. My girlfriend's little drunken snores were _so cute_.

"Well then, it's your turn now," Naoto turned to the other senpai, completely disregarding Rise. "A straight answer, please. What is your true involvement with the murder case?"

_AHA. I __**KNEW**__ IT._

"You know," Yosuke chuckled, "you're so good at killing the mood that it's almost funny…"

"Weeeeeell," Yukiko giggled, "we go rescuing people who've been kidnapped by jumping into the TV!"

…_Oh, wow, good job Yukiko. …Although it probably doesn't matter 'cause Naoto will just think she's drunk…_

"And theeen, we do stuff like, 'Persona!' with our Personas and beat the_ crap_ outta Shadows…"

_Or maybe he'll think we're a pack of imbeciles…_

"Y-You idiot…" Yosuke muttered darkly.

Naoto sighed and lowered his head. "Are you making fun of me?"

Out of _nowhere_, Rise leapt of the couch. "Ish true!" She threw her fist into the air and yelled, "Personaaaa!" And she instantly sat back down and fell asleep on my shoulder again.

"Sheesh!" Chie groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Somebody put these two drunks to bed already!"

"…I see now that you had no intention of telling me the truth," Naoto said sternly. "But I'm curious… How did you become so inebriated? This isn't alcohol."

Yukiko giggled once again. "Good one, Naoto!"

"No, I confirmed it when I first entered. No alcohol has been served here since a rash of drunk driving last year."

Chie was taken back. "Huh…? Does that mean we're all just drunk off the atmosphere?"

"Not all of us," I said. "Only _these_ two are." I nudged Rise to try and wake her up, but… that only caused her to fall down onto my lap. "Oh shi-"

"Mmm…" Rise snuggled right into my legs. "Andrew's lap is _so warm_…"

…_So, the others were saying that **this** is worse than a smooch? Psh-aww. _Despite my wanting to let her keep her head there there, I grasped her shoulders and pulled her back up into a sitting position. "Alright, now stay-"

She fell back down. "Nooooo… Lemme sleep _here_…"

"…there." I didn't bother to fix her, because a) she would just fall back down again, and b) I kinda sorta liked her there.

"Whee, I feel so good…" Yukiko said light-headedly. "Good niiiiight…" And she, too, suddenly passed out.

"H-Hey, Senpai!" Kanji shouted and turned to Souji. "How the hell're we gonna get back with two passed-out drunks!"

"U-Uh…" Souji thought for a quick moment. "Maybe we should wait for them to wake up?"

Yosuke groaned and clutched his head with a hand. "All this is giving me a big headache… Is this what a hangover feels like…?"

Naoto's head quickly turned to him in shock, but Teddie spoke before he could get a word in. "Teddie's still _totally_ okay!" He started giggling maniacally, "Lesh keep drinking 'til mornin'!"

Rise, still on my lap, groaned slightly. "Bring it ooon…"

Naoto's fists balled up and he tried to let out a calm breath. "As I said… You haven't been drinking alcohol! Are you a pack of imbeciles?"

_Aha! I called it!_

'_**Congratulations.'**_

…_You and your random mixes of logic and sarcasm…_

"Hey, anyone got the time?" Yosuke suddenly asked.

"Oh, hang on, I've got it," I told him. I pushed Rise off me and retrieved my phone, then gently laid her back on my lap. "It's… Huh, it's only 9:30. I thought for sure we were here longer than that…"

"When's the curfew for the hotel again?" Chie asked.

"10:30," Souji answered.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"So we've got another hour here, then?" Kanji asked.

"More like half an hour," I said with a depressed tone. "We're probably going to hafta take the train back to the hotel… Sigh… And I was really having fun here…"

"Hey," Yosuke turned to me. "Maybe we can do this again for the next birthday that comes up."

"Again?"

"Yeah, the King's Game. See if you and Kanji can smooch next time."

"Wh-Wh-Whooooa there, Senpai." Kanji shook his hands in front of him. "I ain't gonna be kissin' anymore dudes! Nuh-uh, no way!"

"But, but, but-" I said quickly and excitedly. "What if someone becomes King and says that you and _Naoto_ have to kiss, huh? What's your reaction then?" …_Dead silence. Trying to find the words. Can't think of anything so he glares at me. Typical._ Naoto on the other hand seemed unfazed, as if he hadn't heard a word I had said.

And then I took in everything that Yosuke just said. "Oh that's right! I forgot to mention it, but my birthday's coming up!"

Everyone's heads turned to me. "When is it?" Souji asked me.

"September seventeenth. I had forgotten all about it… I'll finally be turning sixteen then."

And something that I never thought possible happened: Rise spoke. "Ha! I'm shtill… older than you…"

"And you're still drunker than me."

"Thatsh not a word…"

"Whatever."

"So, what'd you want for your birthday?" Chie asked me.

"The world."

"…What?"

"I-I mean, a game. A… A video game, yeah…" _Phew, that was close._ I looked up at her. "Of course one may be a liiiitle too expensive for you guys, so… Maybe I'll just ask for a cake or something…"

"Of course yer gettin' a cake…" Rise mumbled. "I'll make it myshelf if I have ta…"

"I thought you were asleep."

"I am."

"And do you sleep-talk often?"

"Not oft'n… I guess only when I'm drunk…"

I heard the detective sigh. "I'll say it again: _These are **not **alcohol!_"

"Geez, touchy much…" Yosuke mumbled.

"Alright, I'm kinda bored now that that's all over…" Kanji said sorrowfully as he leaned back on the sofa. "Anyone wanna do somethin' else?"

"Like what?" Chie asked, trying to push a slumbering Yukiko off her shoulder. "We can't do much with these two passed out like this…"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Teddie raised his hand high in the air and waved it around. "Me! Me me me me, pick me! Teddie's got an idea!"

"I don't think anyone wants to hear it," Souji mumbled to himself, although my ears were keen enough to hear him.

"Every girl here on these couches should get _bear na-_"

"Rejected!" everyone, including Rise, Yukiko (who had suddenly waken up) and Naoto, shouted at the bear. The animal slowly shrunk down to try to lose the attention.

"Want to just… leave?" Chie suggested. "Not much else going on, and who knows how long it'll take to get back to the hotel?"

"True, but," Souji said before pointing to the passed-out girls, "what about them? We can't just hop on the train with sleeping drunks."

"Well, let's walk then," Yosuke offered. "The sooner we leave the sooner we get there."

"But what about these guys?" Kanji asked, keeping Teddie, who was trying to give him a big bear hug, away from him with his hand.

"…We carry them?" I asked. "I doubt they're in any condition to walk…" I glanced down to Rise, who _finally_ happened to fall completely asleep. My phone was still in my hand, so I checked the time to see that it was 9:36 PM. "Yeah, the hotel's in… Iwatodai, was it? It'll take a long time to get there by foot, and an even longer time if we're carrying _these _pieces of luggage around."

"Luggage?" Teddie slurred, having come out of his little fetal-position-ball. "Are we goin' on another trip? 'Cause I'd like ta go to the beach again. I scored with _shoooo_ many girls there…"

"Yeah," Yosuke smirked. "If by 'scored with' you mean, 'got slapped by'."

Yukiko burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Good one, Souji-kun!"

"Wha- _I_ said that!" The second-year next to me was ignored by the other second-year. Souji just gave a sympathetic smile.

"Argh, I'm bored," Chie moaned. "I mean, this is entertaining and all, but…" She shook her head, "Well, whatever. Let's just go before we're too late."

"Alright," Souji stood up and stretched. "My behind was getting sore anyways…"

Yosuke suddenly turned to me with an odd smile. "Heey, Andrew, I don't think you're strong enough to carry Rise all the way to the hotel…"

"What do you mean by _that_?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I've carried her before, I'm strong enough." And then an alternative meaning came into my mind. "Wait… Are you saying that she gained wei-"

A foot flew right into Youske's jaw. "GAH!" he cried as he was sent falling back into Naoto. The two of them yelped and fell to the floor between the two couches.

As the others started laughing at Yosuke and fretting over Naoto, I looked at Rise. She hadn't moved from her spot on my lap one bit. "D-Did you just sleep-kick him?" No reaction, so I shook her a little. She groaned a bit and one of her eyes cracked open.

"Whaaat do you waaaaaant?" she looked up at me tiredly. Her huge blush was still on her face. She looked rather cute with it.

"We're going back to the hotel now. Can you wa-"

"Carry me."

"…But-"

"_Carry me_."

"…Not even a please?"

"No. I am demanding that you carry me."

"…Fine, but you owe me for everything that I did for you today."

"I'll pay you back in full soon…"

"Tch, whenever that'll be."

I started to roll her onto her back to carry her bridal-style, but she stopped me before I could. "Piggyback."

"…Huh?"

"I want a piggyback ride."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Yes I am."

I sighed. "Then sit up so I can stand up."

She grinned and giggled, and slowly sat up, allowing me to stand and stretch as well. After a few bones in my body cracked, her arms wrap around my neck. I felt my face turn red when I put my hands underneath her legs and hefted her onto my back. Her arms fell loosely across my chest like the ends of a towel before grabbing each other to keep her grip on me.

_Whoa… It's like she weighs nothing. Looks like Yosuke was waaay of with his comment back there!_

'_**So that means he was calling you weak?'**_

_Imma kill the bastard one of these days…_

Trying to fend off the oncoming blood form my nose (since the fact that my hands were rather far up her legs), I looked over to the others. Souji had Yukiko in a bridal-style grip, the same way I was about to carry Rise, and Kanji had a knocked out Teddie thrown over his shoulder. He had an irritated look on his face, which meant he didn't really want to be doing that.

"We ready to go?" I asked them, readjusting my grip on the girl. They all nodded, and began to descend the stairs and walk out of the mall.

* * *

It was about fifteen or twenty minutes later when we crossed over the Moonlight Bridge to the Iwatodai section of the area. There was hardly a person out around, whether walking or driving, but the ones on foot looked at all of us weirdly whenever we walked passed them.

A few more minutes past the bridge, I noticed that the group was slightly ahead of me. This made me realize that my pace had started to slow a bit, most likely because I've been carrying a sixteen year-old girl on my back for the last quarter of an hour. I would've stopped and dropped her to get a quick break, but there was something that told me to keep going. A sensation: one that I've felt numerous times, yet I could never get used to.

I soon found myself walking alongside Yosuke.

"You alright?" he asked me, his arms folded in order to stay warm.

"Just fine, Senpai," I assured him, a little grunt escaping along with those words.

"You sure? You've been carrying her for a good fifteen minutes now…"

"Well, um… I _am_ a _teensy_ bit tired, but I've got this new 'sensation' keeping me going."

"And that is?"

"Her boobs on my back."

"Ah."

"Oh, by the way, were you calling me weak earlier?"

"Hm? When?"

"When we were just about ready to leave, right before you got kicked in the jaw."

"Oh yeah…" He idly rubbed it. "Man that hurt like a bitch…"

"Anyways, were you? Calling me weak 'cause I probably wouldn't be able to lift her up, that is."

"Ah, um, no I wasn't. I was just saying… I would've carried her if you didn't want to."

"Oh really now? But, wouldn't you rather carry… Oh, I dunno… Chie-senpai?"

"YOU. Will shut it. Not a word will come out of your mouth about that."

"Yes, _Senpai_, sure thing, _Senpai_, whatever you say, _Sen_-"

"Or you'll be fired on the spot."

"…Yes sir…"

Up ahead of us, Kanji nearly dropped Teddie. He was _just_ able to grab onto his leg which had flipped up over onto his shoulder. Whether on purpose or by accident, it was still pretty funny.

"Aww, Kanji!" Yosuke shouted, quickening his pace to catch up with them. "You should've just let him fall!"

"Heheh… Kanji trying to pull Teddie back up on his shoulder is kinda funny…"

"It is, isn't it…?"

"Yep. And so is whoooa when'd you wake up?" I wasn't able to turn my face to her since she was directly behind me, but I didn't need to.

"A couple of minutes ago… I overheard your conversation with Yosuke…" She yawned quietly. "I never knew he liked Chie like that…"

"But you said the two would look good together when we were back at the beach."

"That's because they probably would be… I just never realized that he liked her…"

"Ah, I see. Yeah, now that I think about it, the two of them look good together."

"Mhm…"

"You alright?"

"Just a bit tired… I feel like I could drop any minute now… Oh, hey, what happened back there? I can't remember anything…"

"You, Yukiko and Ted got drunk, then we played King's Game, and then-"

"K-King's Game? Aww, man, I wish I could remember it! What happened?"

"Um, well, Teddie smooched Kanji, and-"

"Aw seriously! Dammit! I would so totally pay to see that…"

"…And then I kissed Naoto…"

"You- …You _kissed_ him? _You_ kissed _him_?"

"Geez, quiet down, would'ja? You're making me go deaf…"

"B-But… I wanted to see you kiss him…! Shit, can this day get any worse?"

"Okay, you're swearing a lot more than normal."

"I know, and I don't care. …Can we play King's Game again for your birthday?"

"…Maybe."

She squealed in my eardrum. It hurt. Very much. "Haha, I can't wait now! I'll make sure you two give each other a smooch again!"

"Please don't. It was embarrassing."

"All the more reason to make you do it!"

"Sigh… …By the way, how'd you guys get drunk? You said that you only asked for soft drinks, but you guys acted _really_ over-the-top."

"Did we?"

"Yep. You also started crying on my shoulder, you sat on my lap and also had put your head down on my lap and slept."

"…Wow. I missed a lot."

"You sure did. …Hey, um?"

"Yes?"

"Are you planning on walking on your own anytime soon?"

"I wasn't going to." Her voice suddenly became intimidating: "Why? Am I too heavy for you?"

"No no no! I was just saying, I'd prefer it if you… didn't."

"Hm?" She took a second to figure out the answer why. I readjusted my grip on her, and she figured out why. "Ohhh… Okay then."

"Eheheh…"

She suddenly leaned over closer to my ear. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"That alleyway over there. Go down it."

"Huh, w-why? No one else is."

"Just do it."

"…Whatever you say, your highness."

"And stop calling me that. Rise-hime's fine."

"As you wish, Rise-_hime_."

Quietly altering my walking path, I managed to get into the alley while undetected by the others. I was instructed to walk to the other side of the building, where there was apparently a small opened area for where the garbage bin was. Luckily, there wasn't a soul there.

"Put me down," Rise ordered.

"Why are we here again?" I was getting more anxious with each second the others were using to get ahead of us.

"We haven't exactly had some 'alone time' for a while, so I figured now was the best time to do so."

I sighed. _Can't this wait until we're back in Inaba? _I asked her that.

"No. Besides, why're you so worried? I know the way back to the hotel."

"…I'm a little afraid now."

"You shut up. And put me down."

"You want me to drop you?"

"No."

"Damn."

Lowering my arms, her feet touched the ground. She walked around a bit, trying to get the blood back flowing through her legs, until finally walking over to me and pulling me into a big hug.

"Thank you for carrying me all this way," she said, although she was somewhat muffled from her head being buried in my chest.

"You're welcome, although I didn't mind it at all."

"Yeah, heheh. My boobs were pressed against your back, after all."

"…Oh, uh… Eheheh… Yeah, I guess that's true."

A laugh escaped her, and she pulled me into a tighter hug. "Just as long as your happy with that."

"Who wouldn't be happy with that?"

"Kanji."

"True."

She yawned suddenly. "Oh man, I'm so tired…"

"You don't seem so tired."

"I've been holding back the yaaaaaaawns…" _She yawned again when she said 'yawns.' Heheh._

That got be to yawn. "Dammit, woman."

Rise giggled a tiny bit, after which her head rose up and our eyes locked. We just stood in the middle of the lot, gazing at each other.

She was beautiful.

No.

She was more than that.

She was perfect.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you more." She leaned up on her toes and planted a kiss on me.

"Whoa! What do we have here?"

_Uh oh...!_ I pulled my lips from hers and looked up past her. Coming into the lot were at least five or six tough looking guys, each with their own sadistic grins plastered on their faces. "…You've gotta be kidding me."

"What do you think you're doing here?" the one at the front of the guys barked. "This is _our_ hangout, you know."

"Hey, check out their duds," one said. "Ain't never seen anything like 'em."

"Must be from that country-side town or something."

"U-Um!" I quickly grabbed Rise's shoulders and started to walk around them. "W-We were just on our way out! We'll leave your hangout and-"

"Not so fast." The leader grabbed a hold of my arm. His eyes wandered down to Rise. "I think I've seen you before."

_Oh shit no!_

"Yeah, yeah!" another said. "On TV, I think! You're that celebrity, ain't ya? Risette or, somethin', right?"

_No no no this is not good!_

"She oughta have a lot of cash on her, right? Let's swipe it from her!"

"Heh, yeah, and maybe have some _fun _while were at it!"

Rise gasped and tried to back away, but the guy let go of me and grabbed _her _arm instead.

And I decided then and there that they already crossed the line.

"NO!" I ripped my girlfriend from him and shoved her behind me, causing her to nearly trip over her feet. She managed to catch herself though. "You're _not_ getting her! You bastards stay the hell away from us!"

"Tch…" the leader grunted. "Just who the hell do you think you are, telling _us_ what to do?"

"Don't you _dare_ lay a hand on her," I threatened, despite knowing it wouldn't do any good.

One of the guys in the back laughed. "Hahaha! This kid thinks he's all talk!"

"Let's thrash him around a bit and show him who he's dealing with!"

Unanimous cries came from the group, and I knew I had to defend myself _and_ Rise. I looked at them all: tall, about my height, one of them maybe Kanji's. They're all _kind of _muscular, but a punch from any of them is sure to hurt. One guy reached into a pocket and gripped something, most likely a knife. A few knuckles cracked, and I was sure that they were ready for a fight.

I prepared myself, but somehow a memory crossed my mind. I was somehow remembering what my homeroom teacher had said to me after school on the first day.

"_But remember - there __**will**__ be battles that are too much for you to handle; you must always be careful. If there's something too strong for you to fight, don't confront it. Run away, as fast as you can. Don't try to defend yourself, don't try to hold them off. Just get you and Rise-chan away from there."_

The reality of the situation hit me, hard. My head swung around behind me. Rise was backed completely to the far wall; her eyes were wide and her chest was expanding with each breath she took.

_Shit, this isn't good!_ I looked back to my opponents and counted each of them. Six in total, all of them ready for a brawl. I was outnumbered, big time. With my skill level in combat, I was no match for them. I could _possibly_ take one out, but that'd hardly do anything to the group in general.

I had little time to think of a way to get out of there. The two tallest guys out of the six of them were blocking off the only exit, and the surrounding walls were to high up for either Rise or I to jump easily over. The building that owned the vacant lot we were in had no lights coming in from any of the windows, so it was doubtful that there'd be anyone in there to help us out of this mess.

I tried to take a few steps back to get a bit more distance from them, but it didn't go unnoticed. The supposed leader of the pack chose to stop wasting time and went for the first strike.

"Wah!" I pushed my feet off the ground and went farther back, just barely avoiding his fist. As that happened, one of the others attempted for a punch, too. This one was aimed right for my cranium, so I quickly dropped to my knees to dodge that. Using this to my advantage, I pushed myself off the ground and uppercutted his chin. That pushed him back just a tad, but it wasn't enough to take him out.

"You piece of shit!" Another one, this one with a knife, tried to slash at me. Having too much experience with sharp blades, my feet automatically pushed me away from the swing and started to run around the squared area trying their best to get me away from them.

"You think you can run from _us_!" was the shout from one of the thugs. I looked back to see that they _all_ had started chasing me. Luckily, I was the faster of all of them together. Also, not one of them had bothered to think of Rise, since she was still unharmed, yet scared for both of our lives as she just watched me run.

_Can't she do something! Like break __**their**__ feet!_ It then spontaneously occurred to me that all six of the thugs had left the exit open for either of us to get out of. And it seemed that Rise noticed it before I did, although she hadn't started running for it yet. She was only staring at it

"Get down."

"Huh-"

My head darted to the new voice, but all I got was a face-full of someone's hand. Said hand gripped said face, and then pulled me down to the ground.

The next thing I heard were screams of terror, loud smacks of fists to flesh, and the sounds of footsteps running off into the distance. I _did _hear one guy said 'Oh shit, it's Ara-' before being knocked out, but his sentence hadn't been completed, so I didn't know what he was saying. _A name, perhaps?_

After spitting out the dirt that filled my mouth, I rose to my feet looked at mine and my girlfriend's saviour.

It was that man who was sitting at the bar back at Club Escapade.

"You…!" I whispered in surprise.

The man, who had watched the group of thugs run off, simply turned his head back to me. "What do you think you were doing here?" he asked harshly.

"A-Ah, nothing, really… We just got a little lost-" I remembered. "Rise-chan!" My head swung back to the far end of the lot. Rise was already running over to me.

"Oh, thank God!" she cried when she pulled me into a hug. "I'm so glad that they didn't hurt you!"

"It's alright," I chuckled. "They wouldn't get to me even if they tried."

"How are you able to make light of the situation?" she asked. "And for the record, they didn't get to you because _someone else_ got to _them_ first."

I remembered again. I turned my head to see that the man had already started to walk away from us. "U-Uh, hey wait!" He stopped, but didn't look back or say a word. "Um… Thank you. I can't begin to imagine what would have happened if you hadn't showed up…" I was expecting Rise to say a 'thank you' as well, but not a sound came from her. I looked back at her and said, "Hey, say thank-"

She had fallen asleep.

"…" I was amazed at the quick transition from consciousness to unconsciousness, yet I sighed and turned back to the man. "Um…" _Can't believe I'm asking __**him**__ this, but…_ "C-Could you, um… show me the way to our hotel…? My guide just fell asleep, and I'm not very familiar with the area…"

He still didn't say anything, but glanced down at my clothes. "You guys from the visiting school?"

"U-Uh, yeah. Yasoinaba. We came here on a trip, but we got separated from our friends…"

"What hotel?"

"Oh, um… I can't remember the hotel's name, but I think I can remember the area… Shira… something?"

"Shirakawa Boulevard?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"…Why the hell would your class be staying _there_ of all places?"

"I don't know, ask my senpai's teacher. She chose it, not the students."

The man only grunted, but then said, "You need me to carry her?"

…_Oh wait he just agreed to it, didn't he?_ "A-Ah, no, that's okay. I can carry her myself."

"Hmph. Well, hurry up. I don't have all night."

"R-Right."

I shifted my arms so that her arms could come over my shoulders and across my chest, just like earlier. I bent down and lifted her up legs so she was on my back, and walked up to our new guide. With only a nod, he started walking up the same alleyway we came down.

When we were on the main street, I gathered up my courage and chose to try and start a conversation. "_E-Eto…_" He didn't do anything to show that he was listening, but I decided to keep on talking. "I-I don't believe I caught your name…"

The man said nothing at first, but after a few more blocks, "…Shinjiro."

"A-Ah, Shinjiro-san…" _Doesn't exactly seem to be the social type, eh?_ "S-So, um…"

"What were you two doing down there?"

"Uh-!" Taken back from his blunt question, I gathered my thoughts and told him the truth. "W-We just wanted some… time together."

"You and her?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"…You realize how dangerous it is around these parts at night, right?"

"No… This is my first time here, and I doubt she's spent much time wandering around…"

"…Right."

Things were getting awkward, and fast. Not a word was said for another minute or so, until Shinjiro, without looking back, asked, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"You mean, back there?" He nodded, so I continued. "I've… had one of my friends teach me. She's a skilled martial artist, so I asked her if she could teach me. Just to… keep myself and her- Rise-chan, safe from punks like those guys earlier." …_Wow. That's probably the fastest I've ever lied. I'm impressed with myself._

"…Hmph," was his simple reply. He had returned to being quiet, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut as well.

On the other hand, the girl slung over my back suddenly started talking in her sleep. "Andrew-kun… Why are you on fire…?" I caught myself snickering at a few of her lines. "We should have a picnic… on Mars sometime… and have some tea with the aliens…"

"She always like this?" Shinjiro suddenly asked me.

_Rise-chan told me it could be only when she's drunk, but… I can't say __**that**__!_ "Sometimes, I guess… Haven't been with her whenever she was asleep before, so I wouldn't know." _Liiies._

The man chuckled slightly, but otherwise kept to himself. All was silent between the three of us (Rise had stopped sleep-talking), and we just continued down the sidewalk towards our destination. I took the chance to gather my surroundings. Large buildings lined the sides of the street, each one almost the same height, but yet coming off as a story or two taller or shorter. The color scheme was basically the same - dull colors, like beige and brown - although there was the uncommon bright green building.

A sudden movement across my chest caused me to look down. Rise's arms were swinging lazily, and every now and again they'd jerk over to one side. I almost lost my balance at one point, but I managed to right myself before our escort could notice us.

_What the heck is she dreaming about? What, is she fighting Shadows in her head or something? …Heheh, as if._

Her next line answered my thoughts.

"P… Persona…"

That one word made Shinjiro stop dead in his tracks and turn to face us. Shock was written all over his face, and his eyes had become wide. I'd only known the man for about five minutes, but I could somehow tell that that was uncharacteristic of him.

Walking any farther would cause me to run in to him, so I chose to stop as well. "You, uh… You okay?" I hadn't thought it over much that he'd mind the word 'Persona,' seeing as how it was only our group of eight that knew about the TV world, so when Rise just randomly said it I paid hardly any heed to it. However, the mere mentioning of it seemed to make him startled, as if he actually _did_ know about the Shadows and whatnot.

"What did she just say?" Shinjiro asked quickly, straight to the point.

"U-Um… She just said the word persona. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?" That was a lie, and I'm sure the man realized that.

And yet if he did, he didn't say anything about it. "…Yeah." The man only turned around and started walking again. Not wanting to fall behind, I readjusted my grip on Rise and quickened my pace to catch up to him.

However, my curiosity got the better of me. "U-Um, why did you react like that…? I-If I may ask that is…"

The man didn't respond at all first, and I figured I shouldn't probe him about it any further.

It was only after a minute that he finally chose to talk: "She reminds me of… a friend."

"Huh?"

"I had a friend about a year and a half ago. She…" I heard him sigh. "She was special to me. Hers and your friend's voices are identical, so I was just reminded of her when she spoke."

…_That hardly makes any sense. She spoke when those punks ran away! He should've been reminded of her back there!_ But seeing as how he mentioned a friend - most likely one who had passed away and who he cared for dearly - I decided to not ask anything else.

And then I just so happened to notice we had arrived at the hotel.

"W-We're here already?" I muttered to myself.

"This is the place, right?" Shinjiro asked as if he hadn't said anything that could cause depression.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded to him. "Thank you."

He nodded as well, and then added, "Don't go wandering around so late at night anymore. Chances are, I won't be there to help."

"Right," I said. "I'll remember that."

He smiled a small bit, which seemed a bit odd for him, and then continued down the same path again.

My thoughts returned to the events of not even a moment ago, where he had gotten shocked at Rise mentioning 'Persona.' He must've realized that hers and his friend's voices were similar back behind that building. Why get so worked up when she said the word? Unless he actually _did_ know something about our adventures...

_Well, whatever… He's long gone, I've been carrying Rise-chan for who knows how long, and by God I'm beat…_

I walked past the giant brick fence and walked passed the automatic sliding doors. No one was in the lobby at all, not even staff members. I sighed in relief at our luck, then quickly hobbled up the stairs to the third floor, where the girl's rooms were.

Unfortunately, I didn't know which room was Rise's.

Fortunately, said girl had begun to stir.

"Ugh… What…? We're here already…?" Rise asked tiredly.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," I chuckled lightly. "Care to tell me which room is yours?"

"Oh, um… The one farthest down the hall… On the left…" She yawned.

"Dammit, yawns are contagious," I said after doing so myself.

"Heheh…"

I quietly walked passed the other rooms with my sleeping female peers, and when we got to Rise's door I began to set her down.

"What're you doing?" she asked, gripping me tighter.

"I'm letting you down? So you can go into your room and sleep properly in a bed?"

"You don't need to. There's no one else sharing a room with me."

I craned my neck around to see her sleepy eyes. "Huh?"

"Last night- …No, wait." She took one arm and reached in her pocket. Extracting a key, she instructed me to go to the door so she could unlock it. Stepping in, I found it to be painstakingly similar to mine, Kanji's, and Naoto's room one floor below. The same circular bed, the same gigantic mirror hanging off the wall, the same door leading to a bathroom at the far side of the room. The only difference was that there wasn't a kid six feet tall lying on blankets on the floor, and a kid five feet tall peacefully in the bed (I'd also be on the floor, except on the other side of the bed).

"Set me down on the bed," Rise ordered. I sighed and did as she told, but instead of laying her on it, I let go of her legs and allowed her to fall onto it. "Oof!" One other thing to note: this bed wasn't filled with water. "…Was that necessary?" she asked blatantly.

"Yes. My arms are sore from having to carry you so far…" I rotated my shoulders to try and loosen them up. She grunted again as she sat up, then patted the spot next to her, signalling me to sit down. "Shouldn't I be getting to my own room? It's, like-" I checked my phone. "-a little bit after ten thirty now."

"No one's out in the halls," Rise said. "They won't know you're here."

"What about Kanji and Naoto? They'll've surely noticed I'm not in the room with them right now."

"Tell them tomorrow that… We almost got run over by a car, and I was too scared to sleep alone, and that you had to stay up here with me."

"That'd only be good if I actually _do_ sleep up here with you."

"…Well, you wanna?"

"Sure, of course."

She put the back of her hand to her mouth as she giggled. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

I chuckled softly myself, and sat down right next to her. "You were saying a moment ago?"

"Oh, right. Last night, when I was in my room with three other girls, I was getting annoyed by them quickly."

"How so?"

"They kept bombarding me with questions… Normally, I'd be fine with this, but I was suddenly so tired… So I asked our accompanying teachers if I could have a room to myself, and… they just let me."

"Wow, that's lucky. I never would've thought they'd give you a room that easily."

Rise mumbled something, to the likeness of, 'It wasn't really that easy,' but I could've just been imagining it.

"Oh, by the way, you don't have a hangover, do you? …Oh wait, of course you don't. I'd feel it, too."

Her head slowly turned to me in a state of confusion. "…What?"

"I said I'd feel the pain too."

"Before that."

"A hangover?" She nodded. "Ah, you, Teddie and Yukiko were drunk out of your minds at the club earlier."

"We were? …But I told them that I didn't want _any_ alcohol…" Her face scrunched even further. "Did I?"

"I don't know. They didn't smell like wine or anything to me."

"Do you even know what wine smells like?"

"No, but I bet if I smelt it I'd instantly know what it is."

"Yeah, probably. Wine has this… distinctive taste that you don't find in anything else, so I'm sure the smell is different, too."

"…Wait, you've had some before?"

"Once or twice, at wrap parties. I'd sneak a few drinks when the adults weren't looking." She chuckled in reminiscence and idly rubbed her throat, as if she were trying to soothe some sort of pain. "I can remember the first time I had some. My throat killed for… a while, I know that."

"Heheh… The closest thing I've ever had to alcohol was a sip from my father's drink. He couldn't stop laughing after I spat it out all over the carpet…"

"That must've been amusing to watch."

"According to him it was. I, on the other hand, was not impressed."

She laughed once, but then went silent for a moment, apparently in thought. I was going to let her continue, but then she quickly looked back at me. "Hey, who was that guy who drove off those thugs?"

"Um… Shinjiro, I think his name was. …Yeah, that's it. He didn't say his last name, although I think I heard 'Ara' from one of the other guys."

"'Ara'…?" Her lips pursed together and a finger went to her chin. "I think… I remember that name. Shinjiro Ara… gaki… Aragaki, I believe. About two years ago, when I was here. It was during that secret show I mentioned earlier. I think he was the security for the place back then…"

"He still is, I think. I met him when I went to get the chopsticks for King's Game-" I indirectly made her groan at that. "-and he said that he'd throw us out if we cause any trouble."

"Really? Wow, I thought someone would give up that job for something better…" She shrugged with an 'Oh well,' and she was quiet again, back to thinking about things.

After a minute of more internal thinking, I began to get curious. "What'cha thinking about?"

Her head darted to me. "A-Ah, nothing. Nothing at all…"

Her trailing off there didn't sit good with me. "You sure?"

"Totally!" she announced. And at that she quickly stood up from the not-waterbed. "Oh, that's right! I have something to give you!"

I cocked my head to the side. "Hm? What is it?"

She smiled sweetly, if not a little nervously. "Y-You'll see…"

_A nervous smile and stammers while stating that she's giving me a gift? Odd… I wonder what it is?_

"Okay then… Go to the other side of the bed and turn around."

"…Um, why?"

"Because… it's a surprise. I want to show you it myself."

The excitement was building up within me. Respecting her wishes, I said, "Sure thing," and hopped over to the opposite side of the bed. The next thing I heard was the bathroom door closing rather hurriedly. I shrugged it off, thinking that whatever it was she was going to give me must've been in there.

At that, I got to thinking. _I wonder what she's gonna give me…?_

'**Didn't it seem odd, the way she was acting?'**

_Yeah, I guess… I can't really see an explanation as to why she was, but… Hmm, I dunno, really._

**'__****I can't say that the answer comes to me, as well. Perhaps we should just wait and see.'**

_I agree. Although the waiting is starting to get to me._

**'__****It has been no longer than fifteen seconds.'**

_I know I know, you don't have to remind me._

It was no longer than thirty more seconds that the bathroom door clicked open. "S-Stay where you are. This is supposed to be a surprise so don't turn around."

"Alright, alright, you got it." I patiently waited as I listened to her feet making their way to the bed. The portion of the bed behind me sank down as she got onto it, and she slowly made her way towards me.

"…Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Slightly bewildered at this, I obliged, stuck out my open palms and closed my eyes. "Okay, they're closed."

No response, but not long after I said that something got placed in my hand. It was small, like a plastic wrapper for something. Square, yet with something circular sticking up out in the middle. "…Y-You can open your eyes now."

I did so, looked down, and-

…

…

…_Holy-_

…

…_Hooooooolyyyyyy craaaaaAAAAAAAP!_

I darted off the bed and turned right around.

Rise was kneeling up on the bed, right behind where I had been.

There wasn't a piece of fabric on her.

"Wha-!" I feared a nosebleed was on its way. Strangely, one never came.

"Ah, shhhhh!" Her hands quickly shot up to her mouth to try and calm me down. That hardly worked.

"You-! N-No clothes! C-Condom! WHAT!"

"Pipe down! Shush!" Now that _sort of_ calmed me down, although I was still breathing heavily.

Obviously, I took that time to look over her. _…Her breasts aren't as big as I had originally thought._

Rise visibly gulped. "M-My gift to you, for an early birthday present, is…" She took a deep breath. "…Me."

I honestly had no idea how to properly react. "B-But… A-Are you sure? I-I mean, all those times that I said that, I was only kidding! I didn't mean that we _had_ to-"

"I want to, though." That caught me off guard, making me stop speaking right in my tracks. "And I know you want to, too."

She was right: I _did_ want to. But the risks were still high. "B-But… What if you get… p-pregnant…? O-Or something…"

She pointed to my hand. "That's what that's for."

I glanced down at the object in my hand. "But they aren't one-hundred percent!"

"There's still a high chance of nothing happening."

It was my turn to gulp. This was totally unexpected. I wanted to do this, yet I didn't want to. I've been wanting to for a while now, but I would have never even _dreamed_ that the opportunity would arrive so quickly.

I glanced back up at Rise's face, which had a rather large look of worry. "I-If you don't want to, that's okay… I understand if you'd rather not-"

"I-I-" I gulped again. "…I want to do this…"

Now that caught _her_ off guard. "A… Are you sure?"

I nodded. "…Yes. I'm sure."

She was still staring at me warily, to see if I'd show signs of second thoughts, but after a moment she took another deep breath, this one producing a smile on her face. "Okay."

I smiled too, and would've began to undress, but something in the back of my mind told me not to.

"Um…?" she asked after a few seconds of nothing.

"Ah, s-sorry. It's… still kinda embarrassing… Undressing in front of a girl…"

She giggled lightly at this. "I'll turn around, then."

She did so, and I hastily took off my summer uniform. For being a nervous wreck not even a minute ago, I had become thoroughly excited. To be able to 'do the deed' with the girl I loved more than the world itself wasn't something to take lightly.

And ironically enough, we'd be doing it inside of a hotel meant for this kind of thing.

I suddenly remembered that we weren't the only ones here. "Um-"

"What?" Rise said without turning around.

"W-What if we disturb the others? I-I mean… I doubt we'll be quiet…"

"Oh, right." Disregarding her word, Rise turned around (she blushed when she saw me, but ignored it), hopped off the bed and walked to the wall. "I heard from one of the teachers that this place was built with… erm… 'screamers' in mind."

"…Uh… I-I see."

A laugh escaped her. "These walls are really, really thick, and hardly a sound can be heard from a room right next to another one." To prove her point, she began screeching at the top of her lungs. I was forced to cover my ears from the loudness of it, but when she stopped and waited, nobody rushed to the door. "See?"

"…Huh. Well whaddaya know."

She looked back at me. She blushed again, but didn't turn away. "So it doesn't matter how loud we are."

I started laughing at that, yet it was more of embarrassment than anything else.

She looked down at my lower body. "…You gonna need any help with that?"

"Huh-" I looked down as well. "N-No no, I got this."

"Well, hurry up. We don't have all night."

"Right right. …Geez, stupid button…"

"Here, _I_ got this."

"W-What?"

Rise quickly kneeled down in front of me and took my uniform's pants' button. "Hang on, I'll get this undone…"

My heart started racing the moment she started trying. _Holy shit holy shit this is happening this is real this isn't a dream I am the luckiest person on the frickin' planet holy shit holy shit._

She eventually _did_ get it off, but then- "Ugh!" she gagged, drawing her head back and pinching her nose. "W-What the hell is that smell!"

"Oh, uh, sorry!" I quickly backed away from her.

"D-Do you even _wash_ that thing!"

_I was __so not__ expecting to be talking about this tonight!_ "N-Not regularly…" She looked up at me as if I were insane. "H-Hey, I've never had a need to until now."

She deemed the reason a good one, then picked up the condom that I unintentionally dropped. She looked back up at me, "You don't know how to put this on, do you?"

"Er, um, no."

The smile she gained both showed excitement and timorousness. She nodded and carefully opened it up, gently pinching the rubber between her fingers. The girl looked back at me (more specifically my lower area), and groaned and met my eyes. "In order for this to work, you actually have to… d-drop your pants, you know."

"Eh? O-Oh, right!" I let go of them and everything fell to the floor.

Especially her jaw. "Wh-What the-!"

"Hm? W-What?" My cheeks quickly reddened. Seeing her completely naked was enough to get me flustered, but having her see _me_ was probably even worse. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing! It's just-" Her own face turned red as she looked to the side. "I-I… never thought it'd be… um… t-that big…"

"Y-" I found this to be a little funny, somehow. "You actually think that…?"

With only a nod and a giggle, Rise crawled over to me. Ignoring the smell, she quickly slid it on me and backed away.

"T-That's all there is to it…?"

"Yeah. There's no complicated process to it or anything."

"Heheh… Right…"

Another large breath escaped her. Getting her nerves together, she stood up and walked over to the bed. She climbed up on top of it and lid down. "Okay…" she said slowly. "I'm… I'm ready."

"…You don't sound ready." No response. I walked over to the bed and sat on its edge. _Seeing her like this… Lying on a bed, devoid of clothes… I am quite aroused, to be honest._ "…Are you positive you want to do this?"

Once more, no response right away, however she did turn her head to look at me. "I… I really want to do this." I was about to confirm it one last time, but she held up a hand. "Don't ask again, or you'll make me change my mind."

"…Okay." Truth be told, I was both excited _and_ scared. Excited because it'd be my first time, and scared because I was afraid of what could happen if something went wrong. Of course, I suspected that everyone felt like that during their first time, so I pushed those thoughts away and got over her.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

I smiled. "Love you, too." I gulped again, and in a more serious tone said, "Just telling you now…" She blinked and let me continue. "I won't stop."

She gripped the bed sheets tightly, and nodded.

I looked down. _Well… Here we go._

* * *

******Andrew used Mara on Rise! It's super effective!**

******Heheh... You don't know how awkward it was to write that last bit. Even I had trouble getting some things down. ;P Well, here's to another reason why this fic's rated M!**

******Also, anyone liked the surprise guest? It's actually true that in the female protagonist's route in P3P, if you get Shinji as your BF, you can basically save his life, letting him live for a few more years. And so, I worked it into here!**

******Also, a few things to mention right now. Remember a few chapters ago I said that there'll be a crossover in one of the next stories. Um... I actually meant a 'Massive Multiplayer Crossover,' where there's a bunch of different characters coming together (for instance, Super Smash Bros. or Dissidia). I've got the reason for the crossover already planned out, even though that most of them aren't very good ones. I'll try my best with it though, dammit.**

******And... to be brutally honest, there was something else I wanted to say, but now I forget it ^^; If it comes back to me, I'll replace this chapter with the same document, but with that thing in it.**

******So then. I want your opinions, your thoughts, your criticism. Anything that can help make this fic better, please. I don't care if your harsh (well, I actually do, but still); I just want this to be the best it can possibly be at this point. I thank you all in advance.**

******Alright. I'm gonna go brainstorm ideas now, and _ain't no one gonna stop me!_**

******EDIT: I REMEMBER NOW WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY! This ties into the MMC I mentioned a few lines above: this fic is _supposed to be_ an Alternate Universe one; hence why I have AU in the story description. The connection between the two of them is something I created, and the plot of the MMC is also mine, and in order to make it work I need it to be completely different from the games that will be a part of it. I'll try and work some P4 canon into this, but please don't be expecting much. Thank you.**


	29. Revelations

**It seems I've finally decided to update. Sorry about the long wait ^^; I didn't really have much time to work on it last week because I was on the road for so long (6-7 hours a day, for five days). It was exhausting, to say the least.**

**But enough about me. And more about you and your review(s).**

**Casey W:** The reason for 'eto' was because, beforehand, I had read fanfiction where the author would randomly put in Japanese words in the story themselves, and so I figured it was okay to do the same. And not to worry, the others will be getting their fair share of pain and battles. Soon. Maybe.

**Hishin Trueflame:** Er... Sure, why not?

**Gamerof1458:** Eheh... Sorry for the lack of lulz. Hopefully what I have planned for the future will make up for that, although Shinji and the ending apparently already did :P

**P4anonman:** Ever play Dissidia: Final Fantasy? Where (basically) the main character from the FF games come together, instead of the majority of the cast interacting with each other? Well, yeah, that's what my giant crossover's gonna be like. And, sadly, no other P3 character will be featured. ...In the flesh.

**eggmiester:** If I need any help with the crossover, I'll be sure to ask you something. Hopefully you'll be able to understand what the hell I'm talking about.

**Astrih Konnash:** That was SL Rank Level 5, I do believe. But too bad you were expecting that last bit. I was hoping it would've been a total surprise. :P

**Dragonmaster TC:** If there were spelling mistakes, then they're probably actual words put into the wrong sentence. Hopefully. And Junpei... Heh.

**So... I'm tired. :/ I'll just finish this stuff up and hit the hay.**

**Disclaimer: I have no ownership of the Persona characters in any way, shape, or form. The only character I have possession over is Andrew.**

* * *

**~Saturday, September 10~  
****~5:10 AM~**

"Hey… Wake up…!"

My eyes cracked open at the sound of the voice. The colors of pale peach and reddish-brown blurred my vision, but as my eyes focused, Rise's head and (non-twin tailed) hair appeared before me. Only her head, though - the rest of her body was covered underneath the blankets of the circular bed. The girl had a small smile on her face, but when my eyes fully opened it became much wider.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she greeted, her hands moving from under the sheets to beneath her head.

"Good morning to you, too…" I replied tiredly. I felt my own mouth stretch in a smile as well. "How are you?"

Her face immediately tinted red. "Truth be told… a little sore."

"Sore?" _…Oh that's right I can feel it. …Wait I'm feeling __**WHAT?**_

"H-Hey, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, it's just… I can, feel the pain a bit too…" …_Awk-WAAAARD._

"O-Oh… Uh, s-sorry."

"No no… it's not your fault. It's neither of our faults."

"T-True, I guess… It's a given for first-timers, isn't it?"

"Mhm. So no worries."

She nodded. "Gotcha. Sssssoooo…" The blush on her cheeks deepened. "How was it?"

I felt my own cheeks flare. "Better than you could've imagined."

Rise's mouth opened to show off her shining-white teeth. "Good. I'd wish for nothing less for your birthday."

That prompted me to remember something to ask her. "Hey, why'd you choose to… er, 'present yourself,' now? Why couldn't this have waited until we got back to Inaba, when it would actually be closer to my birthday?"

"Are there any good places to do it back in Inaba?" she asked immediately.

"Your house?"

"Grandma's almost always home."

"My room?"

"Either Teddie will be there, or Yukiko or someone else will hear."

"Ah yeah, right… And they most likely would hear, because _damn_ you can scream."

Her smile changed to a smirk. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant to be."

"Oh. Why, thank you. Oh, and, um…"

"Yes?"

"Last night was me paying you back for all of the money you spent on me during this trip."

"Wha… _WHAT_!"

"Actually… I think that was more than what I owed you, so you'll have to make up for it and buy me lunch again."

"_AGAIN_!"

"Yep. And if you don't shut up, you'll be paying for my ride back, too."

"B-But-! …W-Wait, hang on a second. You're only _threatening _to make me pay for your return trip."

"Yeah, so?"

"…You make it sound like you've got money here with you."

"Oh right. I do."

…

"Say _**WHAT!**_"

"Heheh, yeah. Funny, isn't it?"

"No it most certainly is _not_! I'm almost down 20,000 yen because of you!"

"But your birthday present made up for it all, didn't it?"

"…Well, yes, but-"

"Then I'm done talking about it." And with that, Rise flipped over onto her other side.

I felt my eye twitch as she snuggled into her heart-shaped pillow, which oddly had the word 'YES' stitched onto it in big white letters. _The nerve of her! Making me waste all my money like that! It took so long to earn it all, and then she just goes and uses it! God!_

Despite my internal ranting, I wasn't able to stay mad at her. Even though I wanted to, I couldn't. It was just something about her that made all of the anger inside me suddenly vanish, like candy when near fat people.

I scooted over closer to her and wrapped my arms around her (still naked) body. "Thank you," I said with a smile.

"For what, spending all your money?" Rise giggled.

"No. For my present."

"Aw yeah…" Her own arms went under the bed covers and across mine. "Heh, you're welcome."

"Can we do it again sometime?"

"If there's an opportunity, yeah. But I'm not sure when there'll be one…"

"When the time comes, we'll be ready. Whether it's tonight, or fifteen years from now. We'll know."

"I… don't think it'll be that long."

"Yeah, it better not be… Or else…"

"Or else what?"

"Or else- …A-Actually, I probably shouldn't go that far."

"Heh. Yeah…"

Silence overwhelmed us, and as we simply took in each other's presence, I got to thinking: was that really the right thing to do? I won't lie, what happened the previous night was amazing. But now that we've already done it, I wasn't sure if that was a smart move to make. Although the experience was _very_ enjoyable, it only lasted for a moment. Plus, so many negative things could come from it, there was a possibility that they could outweigh the positives.

"Hey…" Rise's head turned right around so she could look at me. When I gazed at her, I saw her faced was filled with concern. "You okay?"

"…Yeah, I'm fine. I-I was just thinking-"

"If it was the right choice?"

My first reaction was to think that she had somehow read my mind, but that was preposterous. "…Yeah. Now that it's done and over with, I… get the feeling that we made a mistake… Like something bad will happen now…"

She sighed heavily and flipped back over so her whole body faced me. "You have nothing to worry about," she said with deep care, like a mother's voice when comforting a child scared of the monster in their closet. "When you fell asleep, I checked the condom. There wasn't a hole in it, so I'm pretty sure we're safe."

"You checked it? How?"

"I blew air into it and held its end tightly together. None of the air was coming out, so that meant there weren't any holes."

"Oh, that's smart." I never thought there was a way to check it, but once again I've been proven wrong.

"Mhm. Anyways, don't go thinking about that stuff, okay?" She looked at me with a solemn face, silently pleading for me to cheer up. Her grasping my hands and stroking my cheek helped with that.

I nodded and put on a small smile. "Alright, I won't. Promise." My hands still around her, I pulled her closer to me. She wasn't fazed at all, and even wrapped her small arms around me.

"Thanks," she said happily. "I didn't want you feeling depressed like that while we're still here."

"I won't be, as long as you're with me."

She tightened her grip. "Then you won't be sad for a _looong_ time."

"Good." _Just the way I want it._ "By the way, you seem more… okay with it now than you were last night."

"Well, why wouldn't I be? We've already done it, and there's no going back. I figure, we may as well stop worrying about it, since there's nothing we can do now."

"…Huh. You really _can_ be smart sometimes."

"Shut up. Don't ruin the moment."

"Eh… Sorry."

Blissful silence enveloped us this time, instead of the uncomfortable one from before, and we would've stayed in it if it weren't for another question.

"Hey, Andrew-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Were you expecting that?"

"Nope. Not in the least. I thought you actually went out and bought something… out of the _money_ that you _have here with you_." I made sure to emphasize that last part.

"Heheh. I _was _about to go out and buy something for you, but when I heard a teacher say that we'd be staying _here_… Well, I got _that_ idea."

"What were you gonna buy me first?"

"I don't know, really. I was just going to look around in some stores. There's a manga store not too far from here, actually. I was planning on asking you to go there with me - and probably the others too - and see what you like to read."

"Manga, eh? I do like reading them from time to time…"

"Buuut, because of last night, that's not gonna happen. You'll have to buy it yourself."

"Aw man… Hey, let's go there anyway, yeah? Just something to do before we have to go back home."

"Alright. I wasn't sure what we were going to do today, anyways, so we might as well."

"Wait, what time is it?"

"Oh, um-" Rise once again flipped over to her other side and looked at the clock on the bedside table. "A little bit after quarter after five. Why?"

"I was just wondering when I should leave. I don't exactly want to walk out of the room with every female in the first- and second-years out of their own rooms to see me…"

"…Oh right, I forgot we're not alone here… Yeah, going out there with them all around wouldn't be wise."

Before she could turn to face me again, I started to squeeze her body so that she could stay like that. "Stay. You're pulling all the covers around you, and I'm not exactly dressed underneath here."

"So? It's only the two of us here, and I've already seen you down there."

"Y-Yeah, but… I'll be cold. And I don't like being cold."

"Then if you let me go, I'll help you keep warm."

"…W-Wait, how do you mean that?"

"By… hugging you?"

"…O-Oh. I thought you meant… Eheheh…"

"Ha! You wish." As soon as she said that, though, she scooted backwards and snuggled into me. "…Well, actually, that could very well be an option."

"Seri-"

"But, sadly, I only had one condom."

"…Awww, seriously? And I was starting to get excited, too…"

"Sorry, Andrew-kun. Maybe next time."

"…Where'd you get that condom anyways? I don't think people would sell it to a sixteen year old _celebrity_, of all people…"

"I swiped it."

"You- …You _what_?"

"When the cashier at the drug store yesterday wasn't looking, I opened one of the boxes and put one in my pocket."

"But… I thought I was with you the whole time yesterday?"

"Oh you were there. You just weren't paying attention at the time. What was it you were looking at? …Tampons?"

…_Oh crap, I was, wasn't I?_ "A-Ah, shut up."

"Haha, why were you looking at them? Are you gonna _need _them soon?"

"Be quiet you. I was just-"

"Curious?"

"…Well, yeah, actually."

"Huh. How'd I know that?"

"I dunno."

"Mm. Well, you're little secret is safe with me. No one will know that you have a secret admiration of women's-"

I shut her up by grabbing her chest. _Holy shit they're soft. And… And kinda small…_

"_Wh-What are you doing!_" she screeched, her hands instantly moving from under her head to my own hands. She tried to pry them away, but I kept my ground.

"There are two reasons for this: one, this is your punishment for wasting all my money yesterday, as well as saying that I 'admire' tampons. And second, I was too busy last night to get a good feel of them."

"W-Well stop! I-It feels weird…"

"You should've thought of that before you started saying those things."

"How the heck was I supposed to know you'd do this?"

"We're naked, and they're just there. Why wouldn't I?"

"Sh-Shut up, dammit!"

"By the way, they're smaller than I had originally thought. Do you stuff-"

_*POW*_

"Oof!"

"_I said shut up!_"

Getting elbowed in the stomach hurts, especially if that elbow belongs to her. She hit me hard enough to knock the wind out of me, and forced me to retract my hands and go under the covers in pain.

"Ugh, that hurt you know!" I said as I gasped for air. "W-Why'd you do that?"

"The same reason why you groped me! Punishment!" Her voice was overflowing with sadistic glee, although I could just detect the small amount of her own pain in it.

"Gh-" Breathing was difficult for a short moment, but after a while the oxygen re-filled my lungs. I was going to resurface and continue my conversation as if nothing had happened, but my devilish mind focused itself on the two (rather big) hips right in front of me. _Whoa! I never realized that before…! She may be lacking up top, but down here…_

"Why're you still down there?" Rise's voice yelled through the covers. "You're not gonna do anything, are you…?"

"No, of course not." That was a lie, and thankfully she left it at that. And so, taking the opportunity, I chose not to do anything perverted and instead reached out to her sides to begin tickling her.

"Wha- A-Ah! No, d-don't do that, dammit! Aahaha!"

"This is punishment for you punishing me for… p-punishing you!" _I think… Kinda lost track of it._

She wasn't too fond of this (for some reason), so she decided to try and kick me away. Her feet only hit my legs at first, but then she chose to aim just a _tad_ bit higher.

"_AAAGH!_" My hands instantly left her sides and flew to my unmentionables. And dear God did they hurt. "_Oww, ow ow ow ow_!"

"Guh-!" Rise gasped herself. "O-Oh my God, I'm s-so sorry! Gh…!" Now her voice was shaky, and it was obvious she, too, was in pain. "I-I didn't mean to aim th-that high…!"

"I-It's not your fault…!" I choked. "M-My fault for g-groping and tickling you, I g-guess…" _Argh! Critical hit to the nads…!_

"A-Are you alright…?"

"I-If I just leave it for a l-little while, they should get b-better… But dammit they s-still hurt!"

"I said I'm sorry!"

"Like that'll do anything!"

"Then what do you want me to do, kiss them better?"

"…Yes!"

"…Don't make me kick you again!"

"S-Sorry…"

Sometime between five and ten minutes later, I was all better. Rise and I promised to not harass/abuse each other (as much as we were able to), and so I crawled back up out of the covers and laid down next to her.

I was immediately bombed with a serious question: "Do you think we'll always be like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Always with each other, messing around, things like that. I know you'll have to go back home to Canada soon, but after that, will we have to… break up?"

"…" Her eyes were glued to me, waiting for me to answer. "I… I don't know…" That was apparently not good enough for her, so I tried to continue. "W-Well… I've seen on TV shows and anime and books and stuff that… long distance relationships don't always work out… So I'm not sure if-"

"No." Rise's arms tightly wrapped around my neck, and she showed no signs of letting go. "I don't care. I don't want you to go. Being here by myself will be too painful."

"But you won't be by yourself." My hands found their way to her back. "You've got Kanji and Teddie and Souji-senpai and the rest. They're not gonna leave you alone."

"But… Kanji hardly cares about me, Teddie'd just try to 'score' with me, and Souji-senpai's going to be leaving _earlier_ then you…"

"But when we both leave, he'll be closer to you, distance-wise. I'll be on another continent entirely. He'll just be in another city or town, not as far away from here."

"W-Well, yeah…"

"And I know for a fact that Kanji cares about you. The guy cares for everyone. He just… has trouble admitting that."

"…I guess…"

"And Ted… Well, that idiot can't be helped."

"He's beyond help."

"He is. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, you won't be alone when I leave. You'll have everyone else here with you."

"I know that, but… Without you, I don't know if I _want_ everyone else…"

"Oh, c'mon, that can't be true."

She scoffed, "You'd be surprised."

"How so?"

"You're… special to me. You always help me when I'm down, you're there for me when I cry, and-"

"I only do that kind of stuff for you. For anyone else, I wouldn't try half as hard to cheer them up. I'm not anything worth mentioning because of that." _Or… was I? I'm not su-_

"That's not true! Don't think of yourself like that!"

Rise's voice was loud and demanding, and I feared for a moment that she had woken up the people in the next room. But then I remembered her various screams last night, and realized that no one would hear.

"You _are _worth mentioning! You're a better person than Kanji, Teddie and I combined! You're always sincere, you're helpful to everyone, and you're… you're doing so much for me! Don't say such negative things when you have so many good traits!" She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't do what I did…"

"…What?"

Her muscles tightened slightly. "…Nothing."

"But-"

"_Nothing_, I said."

"…Alright." I put a finger to her chin, raised her head and placed a kiss on her forehead. "If you tell me not to, I won't think like that." _But only because you said so._ "I'll keep thinking about the positives of me." _Only because you'd be upset if I didn't._

She smiled sweetly and forcefully pushed her lips onto mine. "That's all I ask," she said when she removed them.

I noticed a strand of her hair had fallen over her eye, and I gently brushed it away. "You know, it seems to me that you're doing all of the pep talks nowadays."

"Oh? You think so?"

"Yeah. Like, you've already given two speeches this morning… And you're always complimenting me, like saying I'm always there for you…"

"Because you are. And because you wouldn't be you if you weren't. Your caring for me…" A light shade of red appeared on her cheeks. "…is what made me fall in love with you."

"…Really?" I hadn't been thinking _that_ would be the reason why. I honestly couldn't remember that many times where I had shown to care so strongly for her. The few times where we got attacked, pushing myself into whatever danger would befall her, and helping her with homework were the only things I could think of. _I'm sure there are more, though…_

"Yeah…" Her eyes locked solidly with mine. "Andrew-kun, listen to me: I truly do love you. I know I may seem… like a bit of a snob at times, but… just know that no matter what happens to either of us, I'll always love you."

The way she said that made me realize that anything could happen, I noted. "…And if anything like that does happen, I'll always love you, too. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Her emotionless face turned into a beaming smile, and she hugged me for all she was worth. Which was a _lot_. "Thank you. So much."

"You're welcome." I returned the squeeze, but shortly after pushed myself away. "I'm sorry, but I should be leaving now. Who knows when the other girls will get up…"

"Yeah, you're right," Rise nodded with a warm smile. "I should probably get dressed, too… It just feels a little odd being naked underneath the covers."

"Heheh…" _I… should probably leave before my male instincts take over._ I threw the covers off me and stood up. After getting dressed in my school uniform again, I was about to leave when I noticed a peculiar spot on the bed. "…You know what?"

"Hm?" Rise responded, not turning around as she pulled her shirt over her head.

"…For maybe the first time, that blood on the bed is not my own."

"Huh?" She turned around, looked at the bed, and immediately threw a shoe at me. "_Get **out **of here!_"

* * *

**~6:05 AM~**

After dodging the shoe, I had planned on returning to my room once I left Rise's, but from Kanji's and Naoto's perspectives, it'd be odd to see their roommate suddenly entering the bedroom after being absent from it all night. So instead of making their curiosity spark even more, I chose to take a stroll outside onto the streets of Iwatodai. Of course, I would be able to 'feel' my way back to the hotel (provided that Rise didn't leave the place), so I just roamed randomly around the place.

From where I could go without loosing Rise's presence, there wasn't much around. Aside from a few randomly placed business buildings, the majority of the places in Shirakawa Boulevard were more adult-oriented. I obviously wasn't allowed in, and most of them weren't even opened at this hour, so after a few more minutes of walking I decided to return to the hotel.

When I got back, it was shortly after six o'clock. Rise was still in the bedroom (most likely in the bed, since she was staying in one spot) and I still believed going into mine and my friends' room was a bad idea, so I was stuck outside, leaning against the brick wall-gate-thing for as long as it took for people to come out.

And how dumbstruck I was when the first person was wearing a blue detective's cap.

"Ah, there you are," was Naoto's greeting. "I had been wondering your whereabouts for some time now."

"O-Oh, Naoto," I stammered. "Fancy meeting you here…"

"Indeed." The kid walked beside me and leaned on the wall at my side. "If I may ask, where were you last night?"

"You noticed, huh?" I nervously chuckled. He seemed to catch on to my nervousness, for he glanced up at me with an accusing glare. "W-Well, you see-" _QUICK HELP._

'_**The excuse Rise offered last night?'**_

'_KAY THANKS_. "Last night, when we were walking home Rise-chan and I got separated from you guys and when we were walking around this delivery truck almost ran us over and it frightened the crap out of her and she was too scared to sleep alone and so I had to sleep in the room with her but on the floor not in the bed 'cause that would've been weird and yes we had clothes on."

"…" Naoto simply stared up at me, slightly shocked, disturbed, and confused, all mixed into one emotion. "I… I see…"

_Whoa did I just throw off the Detective Prince? SWEETNESS._ "S-So, anyways, why're you up this early?"

"Oh, um, no specific reason. I simply wake up around this time every day."

"…Seriously? Even on days off?"

"Yes. You know the saying, 'Early to bed and early to rise-'"

"'-Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.' Yeah, I've heard it. I've just never followed it. I'd get up at whatever time and let things come as they please."

"Hmhm, I see." He looked back up at me. "And so then, why are you out here so early in the morning?"

"I, um, wanted to leave before the other girls saw me on their floor." I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. "It'd be bad if they saw some random guy coming out of one of the rooms up there."

"That's true. There'd surly be chaos and disorder amongst them if they saw you."

"Yeah…" The image of several of the girls running around in panic and screaming at the top of their lungs came to my mind. I think one jumped out of a window in fright. _I doubt it'd be __**that**__ severe, though…_ "So, Naoto, how was your night's sleep?"

The kid's head turned to me abruptly. "…_My_ night?" I nodded to him. "Um… It was, like every other night: peaceful. Although, when I awoke, Kanji-san seemed to be in a state of hysteria…"

"Hysteria? Why would he-"

'_**He was alone with Naoto throughout the night, remember?'**_

"…Oh, that's right…"

"Pardon?"

"Gh-" _Oh shit I forgot Naoto was there for a second._ "N-Nothing! I-I just remembered… U-Um, he doesn't really like spending the night away from home! Y-Yeah…" _Kanji'd kill me if I told him the truth…_

Naoto simply raised an eyebrow as his detective's intuition kicked in. My stammering made him suspicious of my reason, it seemed, but he nonetheless nodded and looked down the street. "Have you any idea as to why the school's faculty would allow us to stay in a lodging such as this?" he asked suddenly. "Is it not… improper, for students our age to stay in a 'love hotel'?"

_If it weren't for last night, I'd say you're right._ "Yeah, that's true. I'm not sure who's idea it was to choose _this_ place out of every hotel in Port Island. But whoever _did_ choose-" _Is my hero._ "-should reeeeally be hunted down."

"I must agree. While I did sleep rather soundly last night, the waterbed wasn't exactly something I'd like to rest on anymore."

"Well, I haven't slept in one yet, so I'm not able to judge." _The bed I __**did**__ sleep in wasn't a waterbed._ "But… What can we do about it now? It's the last day of the trip. And it's not like anything would happen if we confront the one responsible."

"…" Naoto didn't say a word, although from the side of his face he seemed to be scowling.

As I was thinking of new topics to discuss with this intellectual, the doors of the hotel slid open, and out walked Kanji.

"Oh, yo, Kanji," I said cheerfully, waving to him. He glanced over and quickly grabbed me by my uniform's collar.

"_A-A-A-Andrew_!" came his manly shriek as he shook me around.

"Uhh, hi?" came my manly response as I was shaken around.

"_W-Where the hell were you last night_!" His face was completely flustered, his eyes were red, and there were bags underneath them.

"S-Seriously? I just explained this to Naoto…" I muttered to myself.

The big guy seemed to hear that however. He immediately looked down to his side, saw Naoto staring at him in disorientation, let go of me and retreated back into the hotel.

"Er…" I stared after the big guy. "That was random."

"…Shall we return to our room as well?" Naoto suggested. "We'll be leaving for Inaba soon, so packing our belongings should be our highest priority right now."

"Alright, let's do it." And in we went.

* * *

**~7:00 AM~**

Packing our things didn't take long at all, although Kanji's silence made it seem a little awkward for any decent conversations between the three of us. After getting everything organized in our bags, we were told by the teachers that we will be rendezvousing at the train station at eleven o'clock, and until then we were free to go wherever we wanted to.

Deciding to wait for the others to wake up, the three of us were just standing around the lobby talking to each other (although it was more like Naoto and I were conversing while Kanji just stared at the doors) until two of our four senpai suddenly walked down the steps.

"Mornin' guys," Yosuke greeted as he and Souji stepped up to us.

"Hey senpai," I said back to them. Naoto simply nodded, while Kanji hardly acknowledged them.

"Man, those waterbeds are hard to sleep in…" Souji yawned and stretched. "I hardly got any shut-eye last night…"

"You seriously haven't slept in one before?" Yosuke asked. "For someone who travels a lot, you'd think you would have."

"Well pardon me for not bothering to stay in a hotel like this during any of those times, Hanamura." Souji playfully punched his buddy in the arm.

"Hey, where're Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai?" I asked the two.

"How should we know?" Yosuke asked back. "We're not allowed on the third floor."

"I was," Souji raised a hand. "Had to bring Yukiko-chan up to her room last night, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

"As was Andrew-san," Naoto suddenly spoke. _D-Did he really need to say that?_

"That's right, I forgot about you two…" Yosuke said, mumbling 'lucky bastard' underneath his breath. "Oh yeah, by the way, what happened last night?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Hm? Whaddaya mean?"

"Last night. You guys just suddenly vanished on us. Remember?"

…_Oh crud._ "U-Uh, I was just explaining to Naoto here. We got separated somehow - no, I'm not sure how either - and all of a sudden we were almost hit by a delivery truck. This woke her up, scared her shitless, and was too frightened to sleep alone last night, soooooo…"

"Y-You slept-!"

"GAH-!" My agile reflexes allowed me to cover his mouth before he could spout anything. "N-Nothing like that!" _Yes we did._ "I-I just slept on the floor, _next_ to the bed she was in!" _Lies. Lies everywhere._

"Alright, alright!" His own hands removed mine and he pushed me away. "I get what you're saying, you don't need to suffocate me!"

"Sorry," I apologized, "but if any of the teachers heard, I'd surely be expelled!"

"He's right," Souji said before Yosuke could counter. "The penalty for guys to enter any of the girl's rooms is expulsion."

"Damn, you're calm about this," Yosuke said to his friend.

"So I beg of you-" I did the deepest bow I've ever done before. "_PLEASE_ do not tell anyone of this. My parents will kill me if I get kicked out of school. And if they don't, they'll do something worse!"

"Which is?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow.

"Take away my video game privileges."

"…Wow, that _is _worse." I wasn't sure if he was serious or just being sarcastic, but he nonetheless nodded. "Alright," he sighed. "We'll keep this a secret. Right?" He turned to Souji.

"Don't worry about it," Souji said with a smile. "It wouldn't be fitting for me to let one of my friends get expelled, now would it?"

"Heh… True, I suppose." I leaned back upright and looked around. "Oh, by the way, where's Teddie? I thought he was staying with you guys…?"

"Oh, he is," Souji nodded. "He just had to-"

"Hey guys!" Suddenly, Teddie descended the stairs.

"Wha-!" I was taken aback by the bear suit. "W-W-Why the hell are you wearing that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ted asked. "This _is_ mine, after all."

"Y-Yeah, but…" I glanced down towards Naoto, who was trying his best to not stare at the suit.

"It's alright!" Teddie giggled. "This suit isn't gonna stain! Any kind of food washes right out of it!"

"That's not what I meant, dammit!"

* * *

**~8:00 AM~**

After more talking from us six guys (minus Kanji, who only said a couple of sentences only when addressed), Chie and Yukiko finally chose to come down.

"Morning, everyone…" Chie yawned. The girl still looked half-asleep as she scratched her side tiredly.

"Is she sleep-walking?" Yosuke asked Yukiko.

"No, no, I woke her up," Yukiko insisted. "She kept saying 'five more minutes' so often that I gave up and hit her in the head with a phone book."

"And it huuurt…" Chie rubbed a somewhat noticeable spot on her forehead. "I've already got a headache now, thanks to you…"

"I use that same tactic on Teddie sometimes when he doesn't wake up on time," I chuckled. "It's always funny to see him scrambling out of bed afterwards."

"Th-That's just cruel!" Teddie's bear-foot stomped the ground. "Don't you realize how much that hurts my head?"

"There's nothing in your head to begin with," Yosuke cackled, "so there's no need to complain, dude!"

"Even more heartlessness! I thought you were better than that, Yosuke!"

"Will you guys shut up?" Chie yelled, grasping her head. "You're making this migraine even worse!"

"Does this place have any medicine for you to take?" Souji asked, looking at the empty front desk.

"I already checked," Naoto answered, "and, unfortunately, it does not. The only kind of pills available here are… um…" He trailed off and glanced away.

"Th-That's okay, Naoto," Yosuke stopped him. "I… don't think I wanna know."

_Wait, there's __**that**__ kind of stuff here? …If I had to have known that before last night…_

"So, is this all of us?" Yukiko suddenly asked.

"Nope," Souji answered. "We're still waiting for one more."

"And she's right here."

I looked passed everyone to see Rise descend the stairs with the biggest smile I've ever seen. _H-Hold on, I didn't even notice her leave the room… Huh?_

"Wow, someone's in a good mood this morning," Yosuke chuckled.

"Yeah!" Rise bobbed her head. "It's 'cause-" _OH NO NO NO DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT._ She noticed my shaking head and quickly caught herself. "…I had a good dream last night."

"What kind of dream?" Yukiko inquired.

And Rise began to panic. "U-Um… I can't exactly remember… I just _know_ that I had a good dream. …Kinda."

"…Huh," was the only reply, courtesy of Yosuke.

"A-Anyways!" I quickly interrupted this train of thought. Rise's face immediately showed relief. "Let's get going shall we? We only have a few more hours before we have to return home, so why don't we go out somewhere again?"

"But where to?" Souji asked.

"Why don't we ask our tour guide?" Yosuke offered.

All eyes shifted to Rise as she began to think. "Hmm… If we're leaving soon, we won't want to go far… Oh! I know this little shopping center with a bunch of stores in it! We can go there!"

"_Another_ shopping spree?" Yosuke moaned. "We did that yesterday, didn't we?"

"Well, do _you _have any bright ideas, Senpai?"

…

"Alright everyone, let's go shopping!" Yosuke promptly turned around and exited the hotel.

* * *

Once the hotel was out of our sights, the nine of us started chatting amongst ourselves. Guess who I was talking with.

"We'll have to keep a tight lid on that," I whispered to Rise. "All they know is that I slept in your room. Not in the bed."

"Right," she nodded. "Then we won't talk about it with them in our presence."

"Exactly. What they don't know can't hurt them, anyways. Oh, um, by the way?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we do that again soon? Like… _soon_ soon?"

"Like I said before, only if we find a good time. We can't just do it whenever. We've gotta be careful about that, too."

"Ah… right… Oh! And another thing."

"This isn't the same question again, is it?"

"…No. Anyways, I think I've discovered something new about us."

"That we like sex?"

"No! …Well, yeah, but not just that. About our connection."

"…Oh. What?"

"I think we're only able to tell where each other is if we try and focus."

"What… do you mean, exactly?"

"Um… Just then, when you were the last one to come down the stairs, I was completely focused on the conversation with the others that I didn't even feel you come down."

"Really? …Huh, I never thought about it like that before. Every time I'd be looking for you or something, I'd always be waiting to feel your presence… But, I've never walked anywhere around you without that being somewhere in my mind."

"Yeah. I'm not sure how that will come in handy, but at least we know something else about it."

"Hey, what excuse did you tell the others about where you slept to?"

"The one you said last night, about almost being run over by a vehicle."

"Alright, I'll go along with… thaaaat…"

I noticed her sounding out that last word. "Hm? What's wrong?" I looked down at her to see her eyes glued to something across the street. I turned to see and- "_**WH-WHAT THE HECK**__._"

The TV store on the other side of the road.

Rise was on the ones in the window.

In a bikini.

At a beach.

Being splashed with water.

For the whole world to see.

I calmly turned back to her. "…_**WHY?**_"

"Wha- D-Don't blame me! It wasn't _my _decision to show it at this very moment!"

"And yet you still agreed to actually shoot the damn thing!"

"I was under a contract, I hardly had a choice! And besides, that was shot _months_ ago! …I'm surprised this is the first time you've seen it, actually!"

_S-So her boyfriend is the last person in Japan to see her in a commercial? Let alone __**this **__one? What the hell, man!_ Grumbling under my breath I turned back to the TVs. The commercial had ended already, the group of crazed fan boys dismissed (and luckily didn't spot me or Rise), and the TVs switched back to the baseball game they were showing. "Geez…" I took a deep breath to calm myself. "…Sorry about that. I… I just got…"

"Angry? Jealous?" I looked down at her, shocked to hear the word I was about to say. She tilted her head slightly. "What?"

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Interrupting me with the word I'm about to say. That's like, the third time today."

"It is?" She thought back to much earlier. "…Oh yeah. I don't know. I'm just guessing. …I guess."

"…Hmm…"

"What are you two doing?" Chie, who seemingly got over her headache, yelled at us. "You're getting left behind!"

"Oh, right, coming!" Rise and I yelled simultaneously.

* * *

We found ourselves walking towards the Iwatodai Train Station, and it was there that Rise told us that was our destination for the day. Among the many stores in there, the book store and manga shop caught our attention. The more mature members of our group (Souji, Yukiko and Naoto) opted to go to the book store on the bottom floor, while the ones remaining went to the highest section and entered the manga shop.

It actually turned out to be a manga café, seeing as there were chairs and tables set up around different parts of the store. We all split up and browsed around, seeing if there was anything that'd catch our eye.

I found a couple of manga that actually did grab my attention, but I didn't have enough money to buy them alongside lunch and a ticket home, so I chose to just take them to the tables and read them to myself.

After getting about halfway through one of them, Rise plopped down in the seat opposite to me without any books in hand.

"Couldn't find anything?" I asked, looking up from my own.

"Nope. To be honest, manga doesn't exactly interest me."

"What about novels?"

"Eh."

"Do… _any_ kind of books interest you?"

"…Fashion magazines."

"…That makes sense, actually."

"What are you reading?" She stood up from the chair and leaned over the table to look at the pages I was on.

"I honestly don't know. The covers just caught my eyes and I started reading."

She snatched the book from my hands and read the title. "…'Magical Witch Detective?'" She head turned back to me with a creeped-out look on it. "You actually read this stuff?"

"Yeah. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Uh… No, not exactly, but… These kinds of manga are for girls. You know that, right?"

"Um, yeah? I don't care. They're usually a good read."

"…Oookaaay…" She handed it back to me. "You're, uh… You're not gonna buy that, are you?"

"No, I only have enough for lunch and the train ride back home. Or, did you want to buy it for me?"

"Why would I-"

"For my birthday."

She hesitated for a moment, turned her head behind her to see the others reading and/or having their own conversations, and turned back to me. "I already gave you your present, you moron," she whispered.

"Yeah, but when my birthday actually comes around and the others don't see any _visible_ present from you to me, how will you explain that?"

She hadn't thought of that yet. After putting a finger to her chin in thought, she sat down and tried to think harder. She scratched her head, pursed her lips and rubbed her temples, but apparently it was all for nothing.

…Until she _did_ think of something. "I got it!" she yelled, slamming her fist into her open palm. "I know what I'll give you!"

"Hm? What?"

"It'll be a p-" She caught herself. "…Hah! Like I'd tell you what your birthday gift is!"

"Huh… You almost fell for it... Oh we-" My eyes caught something a little ways passed her. "T-Teddie, what the hell are you reading?"

"Hm?" The still-costumed bear looked up from the manga he was reading when I stood up. "A-Ah!" He lost his grip on the book and tried to catch it again as it sailed through the air. No luck, however, since it went flopping to the floor.

That gave me the chance to get a better look at the cover. "…_Hentai_, Ted? Out of everything in the store, _hentai_?" _And why the hell would they sell __**that**__ stuff here?_

"U-Uhh, ah, ehh-!" Teddie turned to his left. "K-Kanji forced it on me!"

"_Wh-What_!" Kanji, who was standing next to Ted, jumped back in shock. "I-I did not! You took it yourself, ya stupid bear! I tried to _stop_ you!"

"It wasn't my fault, Andy, honest! I didn't even want to read the thing!"

"You looked pretty happy when you were!"

"It was engrossing! I couldn't help myself!"

"Yeeeeah, ri-!"

"_GUYS, CHILL_!" My shouting and slamming the table stopped their bickering and brought their attention to me. "Okay, one: we're in a public store, with shoppers in here, so _shut up_." They quickly remembered that and looked around at the customers who had been staring. "Two: Teddie, it's obvious you started reading that yourself. Kanji didn't force you to read it."

"I wasn't reading, I was just looking!" cried the bear in defense.

"Well, there's not much difference between those two. …Actually, just looking may be considered worse." _'Cause you're in it only for the pictures, and… Well whatever._

"Uh-"

"And three: if you're gonna buy that, don't ask me for money. Use your own."

The bear wasn't expecting me to say that. "…H-Huh? You won't be mad if I get it?"

I shrugged. "Ehh, I suppose not. As long as you put it away somewhere so it's not out in the open back at the inn."

"Th-Thank you, Andy!" Teddie's smile grew wide, and if it were not for the few tables between us I'm sure he'd have given me a big bear hug. He quickly picked up the dirty-in-more-ways-than-one manga and rushed over to the front desk.

And then I realized something. "…He won't be allowed to buy that," I murmured as I sat back in my seat.

"Because he's not old enough?" Rise asked, her head resting on her hands, watching the bear hand over the book to the clerk.

"Precisely. Just you watch…" I glanced over to the check-out. The cashier was asking Teddie to remove his costume head, and when she saw how young he looked, she asked for an ID. Ted, of course, had none, and when he looked back over to me I simply waved at him. "See? He has no idea what to do."

"It's obvious you need to be old enough for that kind of stuff. Even someone from another world should know that," Rise giggled.

"Yeah, he should." Teddie was forced to give the cashier the manga, and after doing so and putting his head back on, he begrudgingly trudged back to our table. "No luck?"

"No… She said I needed to be older in order to buy it…"

"How old are you, anyways, Ted?" Rise asked him.

"I dunno. I've never counted the days." His face scrunched as he tried to recollect. "Actually, now that I think about it… I can't really remember anything from before I met Sensei and the others…"

"Seriously?" I tilted my head in confusion. Surely there must've been something he had been doing before meeting us all. "You're positive? I mean, it's not like you were just sitting around all the time beforehand. You _must _be able to recall something from then."

"Grrrr…" Teddie's eyes shut tightly. The poor guy was trying his hardest to remember something, but no matter how much he grunted nothing came to him. "Nope…" he finally sighed in defeat. "Not a thing comes to mind…"

"Well-" Rise attempted to find the right words, and from the look on her face it wasn't easy. "Just… try your hardest. I'm sure you'll remember something soon. If not, then… give it some time. Maybe your memories will just… come back to you." While she was saying this, she reached across the table and started gently rubbing his fur. _Hey wait __**WHAT**_**.** Rise must have seen my troubled expression. "He's not in a good mood," she mouthed silently. "Just let me try and cheer him up."

…_Not too happy about that, but… Might as well let her._ I gave out an audible sigh and nodded. Rise smiled apologetically, yet continued to pat the bear.

"Ohh, Rise-chan, that feels so good~!" Teddie cooed. "Do you think I may be able to score with you one day?" I immediately felt the blood boiling in me.

"No," was her blunt answer. And that boiling blood faded.

"I figured that."

I smiled wickedly to myself. _Besides, Ted, __**I**__ already scored with her._

* * *

**~10:30 AM~**

After putting the manga back and meeting up with the other six, we all did a little more window shopping at the other stores in the strip mall before finally choosing to have an early lunch at Hagakure Ramen, which Rise personally recommended. The shop was small, but we were able to fit everyone in there, although Kanji, Souji and I were forced to sit at tables instead of the seats at the bar, which had quickly been taken by Yosuke, Teddie, Yukiko, Rise, Chie and Naoto, in that order. The place itself seemed kind of depressing because of its colors, but at the same time it reminded me of Aiya back in Inaba, so it also gave off a nostalgic feeling.

Not particularly caring for what I ordered, I requested the spiciest dish on the menu. The man behind the counter looked surprised, yet impressed at the same time, and eagerly prepared to make it. Rise promptly did so as well, claiming that she won't be bested at eating the spiciest foods available.

The moment it was set down in front of me, I knew that my taste buds were about to die from the burns.

"G-Gaahh! Aahh, aah, ow ow!" Every bit of the bowl was hot: the noodles, the meat, even the broth. Downing the whole thing would prove to be a challenge, even for me, although I wouldn't give in, no matter how much it'd hurt.

"Mmmm!" Chie, ignoring my cries of pain, moaned in delight after swallowing some ramen. "Oh man, this is really something!"

"This place serves the best ramen in town," Rise remarked before taking a gulp from her glass. "When we were filming, a lot of times I came here instead of eating boxed lunches." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Yukiko had yet to even pick up her chopsticks. "Huh…? You're not hungry?"

"Um…" Yukiko slowly turned to her kohai with a troubled look. "What happened last night…? I don't remember much about it…"

"Oh, um…" Rise's eyes quickly glanced over to my spot right behind her. _Don't say the entire truth!_ "I think… the two of us fell asleep quick. I heard it got pretty wild, though." _Good, good! Wait, wild in what way?_

"I see…" Yukiko got even grumpier because of that. "I don't remember at all…" And with that, she started eating her ramen.

I saw Rise breath a sigh of relief before turning back to her own bowel. "Ahh, this flavor never changes," she said contentedly, despite the fact that it must've been burning her mouth as well. "I couldn't come here too often because it's high in carbohydrates, so being able to eat as much as I want is like a dream!" _And did anyone ask? I think not._

"Oh… This is delicious!" Yukiko noted, staring at her lunch in awe. "It has an interesting taste that makes you hungry for more."

"See? See?" Rise asked, smiling brightly at our senpai.

"Another bowl, please! Keep the noodles hard!" Teddie, sitting next to Yukiko, called out to the chef. Despite the fact that his costume's mouth didn't move when he spoke, he was still somehow able to eat his ramen without the need of taking it off. _And why the hell is he wearing that __**hear**__ of all places? He must be scorching under there!_

As the cook turned around to prepare more food, I felt like I was almost on the breaking point. "This stuff is really spicy…!" I let my tongue flop out of my mouth to try and get the wind to cool it off. Sadly, there usually isn't any wind inside a building, especially in a ramen restaurant, where it's always hot and steamy. In fact, letting my tongue out in the open probably made it worse. "Ow ow ow!"

"Giving up already?" Rise had turned halfway in her chair to face me side-on. "I thought you'd be able to handle that better."

"I-I never said I was giving up," I picked up another chunk of meat and stuck it in my mouth. "Shee?" I said between bites. "Nuffin' to it."

Rise cringed and sighed visibly. "Swallow first," she deadpanned.

"Hm? Oh-" I quickly chewed up the piece of meat and sent it to my stomach. "Eheh, sorry." She chuckled lightly, but then turned back to the food.

Suddenly the door opened and in walked some completely random guy. He looked for a spot to sit, noticed the seat far at the back, walked to it and said to the cook, "Um, I'll have the Hagakure Bowl."

As the man sat down, Rise quickly looked at the various menus hanging above hers and the others' heads, looking for the dish that had just been called out. "The Hagakure Bowl's a normal menu item now…? Argh, I should've asked!" She lowered her head and sighed heavily before taking another bite of the ramen in front of her. "Ah well. This is just as good."

The man who had walked in just seemed to notice the celebrity, but he only took a small glance before turning back in his seat. Yosuke caught onto that and spoke up for the first time. "Hey, is it okay for you to be out in the open like this?" he asked.

Rise rested her hand on the edge of her bowl and looked at Yosuke. "Sure, no prob." She pointed that hand upwards. "See those signing boards? My autograph's up there too, but the cook doesn't give me a second glance. That's just how it is over here. Plus, I'm barely wearing any makeup."

"Makeup?" I asked, although not loud enough to be heard by anyone. _I never noticed any of that stuff on her this morning…_

'_**She said 'barely', so it's no wonder you failed to notice.'**_

_True…_

Every one of us looked up to the signing boards. Right above Rise was her name written in pink ink, right next to a rather large handprint. "Oh, you're right," Yukiko said. "There's a lot of autographs on display."

Chie turned her attention from the boards to the oversized teddy bear sitting three seats away from her. "Y'know what I think? The reason they don't notice you is 'cause this bear sticks out like a sore thumb… I guess if he wore that over here, he'll have to go home wearing it…"

"Hey, yeah, why _is_ he wearing that?" I asked, looking at Teddie gobble away at his meal. "He could've just left it at the hotel and got it when we all went back…"

"Isn't it all steamy inside from the ramen?" Kanji asked.

"Huh?" Yukiko was now looking down at the spot in front of her, which was now missing in ramen. "Where's my bowl?" Teddie immediately stopped eating, and I could tell there was fear building inside him. _I think I know what happened now…_ Yukiko looked around at everyone's meals before turning back to the bear. "You didn't… eat it, did you?"

Even from inside his costume, you could see the sweat starting to drip off him. Somehow. "Y-You didn't finish, so… Ahaha."

"I was _going _to finish it!" Yukiko shouted.

"Hey, didn't you just order more a second ago?" Yosuke asked. "How many have you eaten?"

Teddie gloomily looked down to the floor. "I dunno how to count."

"But I thought you said earlier you _did_," I replied.

Yosuke heard me and furrowed his brow. "You little liar!" he yelled at the bear. "Gimme that check!" Snatching the piece of paper from Teddie's fuzzy hand, he read over the number of orders placed. "Let's see here… One, two… T-Ten bowls!"

"Wha- S-Seriously?" Everyone was baffled at the number of meals. _Had no one actually noticed him ordering and eating that many?_

"Yuki-chan's makes it eleven," Teddie said happily, followed by a rather loud burp.

Yukiko's head lowered to the table. "I was going to finish mine…"

"Th-There, there…" Chie's attempts at consoling failed, unfortunately.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's close to the meeting time." Naoto finally chose to speak up and grab everyone's attention. I noticed that his dish was already gone, and that his chopsticks had been neatly placed right next to the bowl. _Right down to the properly placed chopsticks. This kid's fancy._

Chie's hands dropped to her sides in shock as she turned to the detective. "Awww… Already? I thought the trip was gonna be a bore… But now that it's over, I actually had a good time." She swung around in her seat and turned to Souji. "Hey, let's buy a souvenir at the station. I bet Nanako-chan will be expecting one.

"A souvenir, huh?" Souji rubbed his chin. "Hmm… I think I heard her say that her lamp had fallen off her desk, so… maybe an Iwatodai one."

"Yeah, that sounds good," I nodded in agreement. "She's sure to like that."

"Alright then, let's get going," Yosuke instructed as he stood up from his seat. "C'mon Teddie, we're leaving." No response from the bear; he didn't even stir. Finding this odd, Yosuke bopped him on the head. "Yo… Hey, Ted!"

Kanji was getting irritated at his silence. "Don't make me rub your fur the wrong way, you little-!" The big guy stood up and walked over to behind the bear, but the costumed boy didn't react at all. Normally he'd begin to prepare himself to swat away Kanji's arm, but it was as if he didn't even see or hear him. "D-Dude…" Kanji tried to shake Teddie to try and get him to move, but nothing worked. "Hey, he ain't moving! I-Is he hibernating?"

_Uh-oh. That can't be good._

"Hey…" From her stool, Chie's face became worried. "D-Don't tell me… I-It's not because he's been in our world too long, is it?"

_Wha-_ After hearing this, I quickly shifted my gaze. Not at Teddie, but at the other blue-headed boy in the room._ …Sh-She just said that in front of Naoto!_

"Are you serious?" Rise, who probably forgot Naoto was even with us along with everyone else, became scared. "Teddie!"

And then suddenly-

"Urrrp…"

-a belch.

"My tummy's heavy," Teddie groaned and held his stomach in pain.

"Huh…?" I did not understand. "Wh-What just happened…?"

Yukiko angrily turned her head from Teddie to the door. "Leave it behind," she said coldly. _Uh, whoa? That was kinda harsh you know._

"I ate too much…" Teddie wheezed. I noticed his costume shift slightly, but that was it. "Can't move…" He started waving his arms about. "Someone carry meee."

From the other end of the bar, Naoto silently rose to his feet. "I mustn't be late for our rendezvous. Please excuse me." Yet before leaving, his eyes turned towards me. "Andrew-san, would you mind accompanying me to the hotel to grab our possessions?"

"Hm? Oh, sure thing. Just lemme finish up." I shoved the remaining noodles, meat and other ingredients into my mouth and drank the broth (ignoring the hotness of it all the way) before standing as well. "Alright then, let's go. See ya guys at the station."

"Later!" Rise waved goodbye to me before turning back to finish her own meal. The others, minus Teddie, who still couldn't move, and Yukiko, who was still pissed, waved farewell to us as well.

We walked down the spiral stairs and continued on our way back to the hotel to retrieve our belongings. When we the mall left our sights, I decided to strike a conversation. "So, how did you find the trip?" I asked, glancing down to him.

"To be quite honest… It was fun." His happy demeanour suddenly became a little saddened. "Even though there were some questions left unanswered…"

_Questions…? Left unanswered…? …Oh, crud, no-!_

"May I ask you something?" Still walking forward, Naoto was now looking up at me with a solemn expression.

"U-Um… S-Sure, I guess." _No no no please don't._

"What was Chie-senpai saying before? About Teddie 'being in our world too long'?"

…_Oh that. I thought he was going to ask about the case… But, this is still bad!_ "Err, uh… By 'world,' she meant, um… C-Country! Yeah, country. Since… he's not Japanese. Heheh…"

"…Mhm." Naoto was not impressed. "Which 'country' is he from?"

"Er, A-America."

"When did he arrive here?"

"July, I believe…"

"Where does he live in Inaba?"

"With-" I froze. _Should I tell him that? I don't think it would be wise to just say it, but…_ "…I don't know. I've never seen his house."

"And how long does he plan to stay here?"

"I-I don't know, I never asked him!" If that had sounded defensive, I never meant it to be. Naoto was unfazed at the shouting, but before he could say anything I drew a breath and calmed down. "Why are you asking these things, anyways?" _And more importantly, why are you bombarding me with them? Give me a chance to think of a lie, why don'tcha?_

"Chie-senpai's statement simply sparked my curiosity. If someone is only from another country, why say 'world'? Why not use the word that would actually fit in that sentence? Also, how could staying in a country for so long have any affect on the person's internal state? Eating eleven bowls of ramen would certainy not cease a person from moving entirely. They would still be able to move their arms and legs, albeit walking _could_ be a problem…"

…_Is this kid talking to himself now?_

He must've read my thoughts, for he cleared his throat and looked back up to me. "Moving on now, there is one more thing I wish to ask of you."

…_Uh-oh._ Despite my not wanting to, I felt obligated to do my best to answer his question. Out of all my friends in Japan, he was the only one who didn't know about the other world, although with Chie's earlier comment he might be suspecting it, even though he was probably deeming it implausible. But now that I thought about it, he already knew the truth, thanks to Yukiko and Rise spurting out our secrets in their drunken-like state. Of course, he didn't _believe_ it, and even if I told the truth, chances are he'd think I was lying. "S-Sure. Go right ahead and ask."

Naoto did something I was not expecting: he smiled. "Thank you." And then that smile faded and he turned his head back in front of him. "I realize I asked this last night, but the answer the others gave me was obviously false." _You'd be surprised._ "However, I feel that I can turn to you to give me the truth. You seem… trustworthy."

…_CRAP HE TRUSTS THAT I'LL GIVE HIM A REASONABLE EXCUSE._ "G-Go on…"

And he once again turned back to me. "What is your true involvement in the case, exactly?"

_Shit here we go._ I sighed and said, "Listen, Naoto…" I gave him an apologetic look. "I know you won't believe this, but… what Rise-chan and Yukiko-senpai told you last night is true." I could tell that he was about to stop me then and there, but I raised a hand and stopped _him_. "Let me explain, with the information that our senpai told me." Recalling everything that had been described to me, I passed on those words to my friend: the events that lead to the creation of the Investigation Team when Souji arrived, the rescuing of Yukiko, Kanji, myself, and Rise, how Teddie came to this world (I told him the truth on that part), and how we went in a rescued-slash-captured the murderer. I told him about our Personae, the Shadows we fight, and how a person's hidden and suppressed feelings personify into a form similar to that person, ranting about their other selves' deepest darkest secrets to anyone who would listen. _Guys, forgive me, but I had to tell him. I just felt so bad for him not knowing…_

I wasn't exactly surprised when he said, "For a lie, that's rather thought out."

"It's not a lie, it's the truth. How else do you think all of the captured victims, myself including, became fast friends with one another? I wouldn't have given our senpai a second glance if they hadn't rescued me."

Naoto didn't answer that. _He doesn't know of an answer to that? Huh, I thought he was full of answers._ I knew for a fact, however, he didn't believe a single word of it, even though he looked like he was processing it all. "To be truthful, I wish I could believe you," he said to me. _Wait, why?_ "But… It's illogical. There is no known case of any person 'entering a TV', let alone there being a complete parallel world on the other side of it. It just wouldn't add up-"

"Let me show you."

"…Excuse me?"

Even I wasn't expecting that, despite it being _me_ who said it. Truth be told, I was getting fed up with how he was just dismissing it all as slander; I knew that it was all hard to take in, and being the detective he was it'd be hard for him to believe it.

Unless he saw for himself.

"We passed by a TV store on the way here, right?" _The one where that godforsaken commercial had been on._

"Um, yes?"

"We're stopping in there."

* * *

My plan was to go into the store with Naoto, find a desolate area in that store with a big enough TV, and stick my hand in it to prove it to him. If he thought it was an illusion, I'd take his hand and put it in the screen. If he thought it was a trick of some sort, I'd let him stick his head in there to see the world beyond it (though I won't let his full body enter). If, for some reason, he thought it was something to do with that TV alone, I'd go to the one right next to it and show him. If he thought it was something with the entire store (why he would think that, I don't know), I'd wait to go back to Inaba and show him the TV that we use to enter the world at Junes, although I wouldn't keep him in there for long, lest his _own_ Shadow emerged.

Needless to say, I had surprised myself with how much I'd thought this through.

Naoto and I entered the notably large shop, which we figured out was not too far from the hotel. There weren't too many people in there, but even with those few shoppers it'd still be dangerous to show off the other world. Luckily, there was a spot near the bottom right corner of the store that had no customers or clerks, so the two of us went to that section.

"What exactly are you about to show me?" Naoto asked after glancing at the large TV in front of us.

"You'll see," I replied, "but first, I just want to make one thing clear. What I'm about to show you is the real deal. This isn't a trick, or an illusion. It's one hundred percent absolute. It'll _seem_ like one, but it's not."

Naoto frowned, but nodded and allowed me to continue. I walked up to the TV and raised my hand. _Again, I'm sorry guys. Really, I am._ I reached for the screen and-

"_Andrew-kun!_"

"Wha-" I whipped my head around to see Chie and Yukiko, the former with her hands on her hips, yet both with very stern looks. "S-Senpai? How-" _…Well __**that **__was anticlimactic!_

Without a word, Chie walked up to me and- "OW OW OW THAT'S MY EAR STOP PULLING ON IT OW OW OW!"

"Excuse us, Naoto-kun," she said, before abruptly turning on her heel and dragging me along. "Outside! _NOW!_"

We were out there in a flash, leaving poor Naoto behind inside the store.

"Just what the _hell_ do you think you're doing!" Chie shouted, not caring if the people walking by us started staring.

"Don't you know what Naoto-kun will do if he found out!" Yukiko yelled, her bad mood made even worse now. "He'll report us to the police!"

"Yeah, but- They can't do anything now that the murderer's been found, right? They'll just question us or something, right?"

"Not likely!" Chie bellowed. "If they find out that we're even involved with the murderer in any way, they could arrest us, too!"

"But if we just explain-!"

"As if they'll believe anything we tell them!"

"We could show them-!"

"_That's_ when they'd arrest us!"

"For trying to prove our innocence?"

"The perpetrator killed the first two victims with that world!" Yukiko spoke up again. "If we show it to the police, they'll compare us to the killer and arrest us with him!"

"Wha-! S-Seriously?"

The two were taken back. "Y-You didn't think this out, did you?" Chie asked.

"I-" _Wait… Hang on._ "I…I guess… I didn't. I just felt bad for him. He wanted to know, but we couldn't tell him, and so…" I trailed off and glanced to the side. The TVs on display in the window were showing the same baseball game from before. The batter hit the ball square out of the park and managed to score four runs, although I never caught his name. Iori, or something. He had a nice goatee, though.

"Well what do you think Naoto-kun would've done if he _did_ find out?" Chie's voice had lowered in hostility, yet it was obvious she was still not pleased.

"Uhh…" I looked back to the girls. "I… honestly don't know now. I thought he'd be happy that we finally cleared that up with him and just go on about his day."

Yukiko shook her head, her previous bad mood suddenly subsiding. "Naoto-kun wouldn't simply leave it like that. He'd try to get down to the bottom of it, like what he's been doing since day one. I'm sure even more questions would pop up in his mind instead of answers."

"I-I… suppose you're right…" I hung my head down dejectedly. "But… he's still expecting me to show him something. If I just go in there now and say 'never mind,' how'll he react to that?"

"I don't know…" Chie scratched her cheek. "Tell him… Tell him that you'll show him some other time, maybe? The rendezvous time is getting close, so we should probably hurry to the train station…" She nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. Just tell him that."

"But if I _do_ tell him that, he'll still be waiting." I glanced passed the TVs, through the small space that (somehow) allowed me to look at Naoto. He had his arms crossed and was occasionally looking at his cell phone's clock. It was obvious he was getting impatient. "And not only that, I… kinda sorta… told him."

"Told him?" Yukiko blinked. "You mean-"

"Everything." I nodded shamefully. "Yeah."

"Y-" Both pairs of eyes bulged out of their sockets. "You told him_** everything**_?"

"Ah-tah-tah, _quiet_!" I reached my hands out to them to stop their talking. "I told him, yes, _and _I explained everything! But he believed none of it! Just like how he didn't believe you-" I gestured to Yukiko, "-and Rise-chan last night!"

"D-Didn't believe Rise-chan and I last night?" she repeated. "W-What do you mean?"

"Oh, yeah, that part," Chie said, reminiscing the events. She smiled and snorted a little. "That was kinda fun- _Wait now's not the time!_" She returned to her serious voice and expression. "Naoto-kun didn't believe them because those two were _drunk_!"

"We were-"

"Nobody in their right minds would believe a story like that from two drunkards!"

"Yeah, but Naoto said he _still_ didn't believe it!"

"He-! H-He what?"

"When I told him earlier, he said, and I quote, 'for a lie, that's rather thought out.' …End quote."

"Really? That's it?"

"Yeah, although… He's in there now, waiting for me to shove my arm into the TV." I let out a heavy, exasperated sigh. "I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Royally," Chie remarked, but sighed as well. "Who knows, though, this could just blow over him."

"I doubt it," Yukiko put her arms behind her back and shifted her weight to one leg. "Naoto-kun really wants to find out the truth behind the case…"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "He'll do anything to figure it ou-"

Suddenly the doors to the store opened up, and out walked the aforementioned detective. "I realize you requested me to stay in there," he said immediately and irritably, glaring at me all the while, "but the meeting time is getting close at hand. I suggest we leave now before we miss the train."

"U-Uh, yeah, that's a good idea," I nervously chuckled. _Crap, he's pissed at me… I can tell._ "D-Don't want to be late…"

Behind me, Chie and Yukiko silently agreed (although the latter went on asking her friend about 'what exactly happened last night?'). And before we could even begin to walk to the hotel, loud and familiar voices were heard in the distance.

"C-C'mon! Just a b-bit farther!" _Souji-senpai?_

"Ch-Christ! H-How heavy is this thing?" _Yosuke-senpai? What's going on?_

I turned around to see the four humans we left behind trudging down the sidewalks with a giant blue, red and white bear over their shoulders.

"W-What the heck?" Chie asked what was on everyone's minds.

"H-He couldn't move at all…" Kanji explained, at the back of the group and out of my sight. "S-So we had to carry him…"

"And dear God he weighs a ton!" Yosuke complained, the sweat dripping off of him. "S-Someone help, please?"

"Yeah, we're having some trouble here," Rise commented, before suddenly stepped away from the bear. "Well, these guys are. I wasn't doing anything to help."

"_WHAT_," was the unanimous response from the three dudes.

"Urgh…" Teddie groaned, followed by a very loud gurgling emanated from his gut. "My tummy still hurts…"

"Just sit tight, Teddie," Rise said to the bear. "We'll get you back to the hotel and give you some medicine."

"The hotel has none," Naoto said, his voice still bitter. "I checked earlier, as I had said."

"…Oh." Rise looked back up. "Looks like you're stuck like that then. Sorry." All she got was a moan.

"Alright, enough fooling around guys," Chie let out another sigh. "Let's go back to the hotel and grab our things."

"R-Right…" Souji wheezed, and then glanced to me. "Andrew, could you-"

"Yeah, okay, sure," I huffed before he could finish and went to the spot where Rise had pretended to be. I took the ease off everyone's shoulders, even if it wasn't much. And even that little bit was enough for me to have to strain my arms right away. "Holy-!" I shouted through the struggle. "D-Did the multiple bowls add to his weight or something?"

"Th-That's what we're assuming!" Yosuke yelled, directly across from me.

"Alright, l-let's get going," Souji, at the front of this formation, called out to us. His back was bent over and he was supporting Teddie's head with his shoulder blades, and I was sure he was going to be feeling that in the morning.

We started our walk back and-

"_W-WHOA!"_

Kanji tripped over the smallest rock imaginable and came crashing down on us, teddy bear and all. Obviously, it hurt. A lot.

And the good-for-nothing girls (and Naoto) didn't do anything to help.

* * *

**Well then that's another chapter done and over with. It is very late here now so I'll just go on and say good night.**

**So, good night!**


	30. Shameless Transgressions

I wonder if anyone remembers me or this story...

Yo. It's been a while. Almost a month now, hasn't it? Yeesh... Lemme explain: Christmas break. 'Nuff said, right? Wrong. I got a PS3 for it, and dear Lord I haven't stopped playing it. In fact, as I type this, I have music playing on it. Ain't it great? =D

This chapter was actually supposed to be longer, but I had to cut it because it would've been _too_ long. I still don't actually know what the next chapter will hold, so try not to expect anything too soon.

So anyway... I doubt anyone remembers what they wrote in their review, so I'm just gonna leave that section blank.

**NOTE:** I've decided to only have one author's note at the start of each chapter, just so you guys can end them without having to read what I wrote ^^;

**Another thing:** there are some more 'mature themes' in this chapter as well, but they aren't as drastic as 28's. These ones are mostly just... awkward. Awkward to read, awkward to write.

**Disclaimer:** I've run out of creative disclaimers :'( I don't own anything in regards to the original Persona 4 game. Any new ideas this story has is all mine. Unless they've been copied from other games. Which I doubt they were.

* * *

**~Sunday, September 11~  
****~1:20 PM~**

* * *

She was outnumbered. But she wasn't worried. She always had been.

Five enemies stared her down, each of their tiny hands radiating red and white energy. She knew that she could best them, however; she had come too far to die now. The ending was near. She could feel it.

The one closest to her went first. It spread its arms out, creating a large circle of white projectiles, closely lumped together to make it seem as if it were one big wheel. The four behind it fired their attacks as well, although these were five rows of red spheres randomly strewn across her view. Thousands upon thousands of them aimed for her, but she was ready.

Immediately, she flew to the conjoined-like circle. Sticking her arms out she sent out a large icicle, effectively freezing the entire circle, as well as any unfortunate bullet that happened to hit the frozen structure. Countless others piled onto the ice, causing it to expand far back to the other enemies. The one in front of her, gazing curiously at the glistening crystals, suddenly erupted as said crystals burst, leaving behind nothing in its wake. Two others vanished farther in front of her, and the remaining ones, fearful for their little lives, flew away hurriedly.

Before she could take a breather, another group of opponents approached her. The same tactics were used to rid the battlefield of them, although the next wave of enemies had two rings of white on opposite sides of her. She didn't waver in her flight as she flew between the small circles and sent the magic ice to both. As the red spheres began to rain down upon her, the sheets of ice she created blocked her from the attack. The bullets froze instantly, causing the ones right behind it to cease movement as well.

The ice erupted once more, leaving not a trace of any opponent.

She grinned and continued forward, before reaching yet another group of adversaries. But this one was different. Whereas the previous cluster had their frontal attackers close enough to freeze both rings of projectiles, these ones were too far away to get both at the same time.

Her cocky grin fell when she saw the red and white projectiles appear. If left for too long, they would fly out in all directions and, because of how close together each bullet was, leave little to no gaps between the projectiles for her to fly through. One ring of them was challenging enough, let alone two to try and get by. Looking between both of them and becoming more desperate by the second, she quickly reached into her pocket and held a simple card to the sky.

"_Perfect Freeze!_"

Immediately, a large amount of ice shards quickly flew through the area. At first, it seemed only harmless, and her enemies hardly paid any heed to them. But mere seconds afterwards, the wind picked up and nearly blew away one of her opponents. The magical projectiles weren't affected at all, and continued on their way towards her, ready to take her life.

And then, everything froze.

Literally.

The foes were completely encased in ice, along with each and every bullet aimed right for her. She was but a few feet from defeat with a single red orb in front of her, and when the ice vanished along with the enemies and projectiles, she sighed in relief.

She looked forward again. More opponents of a different color came towards her, scattering bullets in every direction, along with the occasional fireball.

She scowled. She couldn't freeze fire.

Carefully eyeing the gaps between each magic sphere, she slowly manoeuvred through them, regularly unleashing an area of ice, catching the normal bullets while evading the fire-covered ones. Eventually, after a painfully long time, the last of the enemies had disintegrated and the final bullet had vanished.

She huffed out a breath and looked around.

"According to the tengu…" she said idly, searching the area. "There's a human around here who's done flower-viewing and doesn't have anything to do." Her fists clenched and she pumped them in the air. "Whoever it is, they'll be a piece of cake! Nobody's stronger than the strongest!"

"What's that?"

A voice. Her heart began to race. She looked over to where she heard it and-

Yes! That's her! The human with spare time!

"You really look like you're itching for a fight," the newcomer noted as she flew in, gently gripping the brim of her hat.

"Piece of cake, piece of cake, Tower of Pisa cake!" she laughed joyfully, placing her hands behind her head. "Come on, time to fight!"

The human chuckled amusedly. "What, did you eat something funny?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did!" came the reply. Her enthusiastic demeanour suddenly became sour. "There's nobody left in the fairy world who's a match for me anymore…" She grinned once more, "My next opponent will be a youkai! When I beat a youkai, I'll be the strongest!"

"So _that's_ why you were following me. Me, a human…" the human said with a hint of irony.

"Come on, put 'em up!"

The girl smiled and nodded slightly. "Well, whatever. I was bored, anyway. I don't mind playing with you."

"Yeah, you think it'll be easy _now_," said the fairy cockily, "but I can freeze your danmaku."

The newcomer blinked. "Huh. Sounds interesting." She was actually quite surprised; it's not everyday you find out that someone can use their natural abilities to freeze _magic_ of all things. But, being the more superior one, she didn't show that surprise.

"I couldn't freeze the lasers, though," the fairy admitted embarrassedly.

"Hmph." The human sweat-dropped. "That's not too good if you're gonna fight someone with lasers like me, is it?"

"I'll do my best!" The fairy was obviously prepped for a fight.

"Well, whatever. I'll go easy on ya," the human offered. "I'll just attack with lasers that won't kill you if you hit 'em." Nonchalantly, she added, "They'll kill your motivation, though."

"Hmph, I'll just protect myself with ice!" cried the fairy. "Come on, let's do this!"

The tension between the two started to pick up, as if far away a powerful and awesome-sounding song started playing. "How much fun can I have fighting a fairy, anyway?" the human wondered aloud, removing her witch's hat and retrieving a small hexagonal object from within it. She grinned maliciously, "If this doesn't make for a nice tidbit of conversation later, then I'll just have to blow _you_ to bits!"

They began.

* * *

_BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP_

"What? Why _now _of all times?"

I hit the escape button to pause the game and stuck my hand in my pocket. Teddie was none to thrilled, watching the unmoving screen with a look of disdain. He had wanted to see me attempt to beat the Extra Boss on Fairy Wars for a few hours now, and my continuous dying had began to annoy him immensely.

I pressed the talk button. "Hello?"

_/Hello, Andrew-kun?/_

"Oh- Yukiko-senpai. How are you?" _Odd. She hardly ever calls me._

_/I'm doing fine. Listen, Souji-kun called me earlier and said that he was planning on taking us into the TV world for some training./_

"…Training?" Teddie's attention was quickly taken from the laptop to me. "What for?"

_/He didn't really explain, although he did say we'd be rusty because we hadn't been in there for over a month…/_

"Oh, that's right…" _Even though Rise-chan, Kanji, Ted and I were in there not too long ago._ "I guess working on our skills and stuff wouldn't be too bad… What time did he say to meet up?"

_/Um, now./_

"N-" I turned back to the laptop. The game was still paused, waiting for me to come back and die yet again. "You mean, right this second?"

_/He said he was already at Junes waiting. Yosuke-kun's already there too…/_

"O-Oh, alright. Ted and I will get ready. See you- …Wait, have you left yet?"

_/No, I'm still getting my things ready./_

"Ahh, okay. We'll see you downstairs in a bit. Bye." I hung up the phone before she had a chance to say bye. Turning back to the game, I hit the key that closed the game entirely and shut off the laptop. Before he could protest, I turned to the bear. "Souji-senpai wants us to get to Junes quickly. We should hurry there so we don't cause everyone to wait."

"Wait, right now?" Teddie asked.

"Mhm. Didn't I just confirm that?"

"Oh noo! I still gotta use the washroom!" Without me saying a word the blonde boy jumped up from his spot on the floor and made a mad dash towards the bathroom.

When the door locked, I hung my head and sighed. "That bear is so helpless, it's not even funny." I yanked my jacket out of the closet and put it on over my shoulders. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I found my green other-worldly glasses, and kept them in there. My machete, which was also stored safely away in the closet, was quickly harnessed under a thick strip of duct tape stuck on to the inside of the coat.

The idea came from Yosuke one day when my weapon was almost made public-known: while my hands were in the jacket's pockets, I was holding on to the blade of the machete, but it started to slip and protrude from underneath my outer wear. I managed to catch it before anyone other than my friends saw it, and it was after that that Yosuke suggested I tape it on, like he had done with his knives. But to be able to hold the thing, the tape would've had to be strong enough to do so, instead of the small strips my senpai used. And so I bought a roll of duct tape at (where else?) Junes later that day.

_Yosuke and I tape our weapons inside of our clothes, Souji shoves his down his pants leg, Yukiko keeps hers strapped to her side, Chie doesn't need to hide hers, Kanji doesn't __**bother**__ hiding his, and Rise-chan just leaves hers in the other world. …Speaking of which, I wonder if Rise-chan knows we're even going into the other world? I'm sure the others have already called her, but just to be sure…_

From my pants pocket, I hauled out my cell phone once again and speed-dialled Rise's number. She didn't answer right away, and after six or seven rings I started to get worried. "She always has her phone with her… Where is sh-"

_/H-HELLO!/_

"GAH-!" My hands pulled away from my ear the moment her loud voice rang out of the speaker. "Geez! You really _can _scream, you know that?"

_/Huh? Oh, um… S-Sorry… I was just in a rush to get to the phone…/_

"I can tell that much. You're breathing pretty heavily…" Actually, her voice sounded kind of pained… But I was probably thinking too much. "Everything okay?" I asked, just to be sure.

_/J-Just perfect. I was about to take a bath when I heard my phone ringing, so it's nothing serious./_

If I had any sense, I would've questioned why she added on that 'nothing serious' bit at the end. But, more important questions formed. "A bath? …In the middle of the day?" I had not heard of such absurdity_._ Normally I'd wait until after dinner or something. And also, it'd be a shower, not a bath. Sitting in your own filth is just _ewwwww_.

_/I didn't get a chance to take one yesterday! I had to help Grandma at the shop, then cook her supper, do some chores, buy some more groceries…/_

"…Well now, that makes sense." _Sucks to be you. I only had to feed Ted, and that was easy enough._

_/Yeah… And I was really tired after that long ride home from Port Island, and I just wanted to go to bed… It was a really tiresome night. I was afraid I'd fall asleep __**in**__ the bath, so I didn't bother to get in./_

"Are you tired now?"

_/Kinda, yeah…/_

"Well, I'm sorry about what I'm about to relay to you."

_/…What do you mean?/_

I sighed and brought out the bad news: "Souji-senpai wants us all to go to the TV world for some training today."

A pause. _/…T-Training?/_

_So no one told her about it, huh? Good thing I called! _"Yup. TV world, Personae, Shadows, weapons, special 'screw-you-fog' glasses, and everything else."

_/Do we… have to go?/_

"Well… Probably not, but they'd be disappointed if we don't go…"

_/…Right… Well, did they say __**where **__we're gonna go…?/_

"Uh, no, actually. My guess is we'll probably go to that video game castle or something. That's where the strongest Shadows are…"

I heard her sigh from the other end. _/Good. For a second I thought we were gonna go to my place…/_

"Well, you never know… As much as I hate to admit it, we could wind up going to every place there."

_/What? Seriously?/_ She groaned, but continued on._ /…We'll all be sharing the pain, though, so it's alright./_

"Hm. I guess so. …But after saying that, I'm not really sure if I want to go now…" Just the thought of going to the place where your other self nearly killed your friends was creepy enough.

_/Same here. And not only that, but my afternoon's ruined, too…/_

I sighed and shook my head. "It can't be helped, though. Let's just go and get it over with."

_/Yeah you're right. We'll have to take a bath together some other time, I guess./_

"Mhm." It took a few seconds for the words to register. "Wait, what?"

She giggled. _/I love you, see you later, bye~!/_

The dial tone blasted in my ears all of a sudden, and I put the phone down. Slowly, a grin grew on my face. _Can't wait for that!_

My attention now elsewhere, I looked up at the clock hung on the wall: one-thirty. "Teddie, hurry up! Yukiko's probably downstairs waiting already!" …No response. Instead, I heard grunting. No no no, he wasn't doing _that_. Although, for a second I thought he was... "Ted, what the hell are you doing?"

"A-Ahh! C… Cleaning up," came his voice

"…_What_. Did you do."

"I-I was in a rush to hurry up and get out! I didn't mean to, I swe-"

"_Ted!_ Just spit it out! What did you do?"

"…I… I kinda missed the toilet…"

"…"

* * *

I called the front desk and asked to send someone up to clean the bathroom while the bear and I made our way downstairs. In the lobby, Yukiko was waiting by the door with her shoes already on. Attached to the side of her skirt was a rather elegant paper fan. I was tempted to ask her how the heck she's able to kill Shadows by simply waving it around, but I figured that the logic behind that would fry my brain.

"Sorry we're late," I greeted her, then turned to glare at the blondie. "Ted kinda sorta… caused some trouble."

"Trouble?" Yukiko quirked an eyebrow.

"You don't need to know."

She, too, started to glare at Teddie. "It didn't involve him stealing your food, did it?"

_She's still bitter about that?_ Ted whimpered. "I didn't steal anyone's food this time." He bowed rather deeply and clasped his hands together. "I'm sorry Yuki-chan! I'll buy you a lot more food or clothes or jewellery or something! Whatever you want! Just forgive me already, will you?"

Yukiko still looked angry at him, and didn't show any signs of accepting his apology, so I decided to pitch in. "He means it, you know. I'm sure he'll do anything it takes." Hesitation fluttered through her eyes, so I sweetened the deal: "He could probably even set up a date between you and Souji-senpai…"

Her eyes and ears perked and her cheeks flushed at the very mentioning of the words 'date' and 'Souji' in the same sentence. "A d-d-date?"

…_I can have fun with this._ "Yeah. Maybe a nice romantic supper at… w-wherever, followed by a nice, quiet walk under the moonlight by the Samegawa river. Then, it's off to his room for some fu-"

_*SLAP*_

"OW!" Suddenly, I had been slapped across the cheek. "W-What the heck was _that_ for?"

Her face was beet red and her bangs were covering her eyes. "L-Let's just go now." And she immediately turned on her heel and walked out of the inn.

"Geez, what's her problem?" I asked rhetorically as I rubbed my sore cheek. "I was just going to say some funny stories…"

"I doubt that," Ted said as he hopped into his shoes and followed the black-haired girl, leaving me all by my lonesome.

"…How'd he know?"

* * *

As Yukiko continued to ignore my bear and I while we walked, I heard a rather loud sigh of relief from a certain internal dragon.

_You sound… content._

'_**Ahh… It would seem so.'**_

_Why's that, I wonder?_

'_**No particular reason. I had just been beginning to get restless from being held in your mind for so long. I haven't had a chance to stretch my wings in a long time…'**_

_But what about in August, when Kanji, Rise-chan and I-_

'_**You did not use me in battle. You lot simply relied on your own abilities. I feel like I am being slowly forgotten in the deepest, darkest parts of your mind. …Again.'**_

_Oh, um, sorry about that. There's been a lot going on around here that I haven't exactly thought to talk with yo- …Wait hang on hold the phone stop. What do you mean, 'again'?_

'_**Had I said that? Oh, my mistake. Forgive me. It seems that in my old age I am beginning to spout random nonsense from time to time.'**_

_You're me. You can't be older than that._

'_**I may be you, but remember I am also a representation of the ancient European Wyvern, and thus I am eons older than you.'**_

…_I don't buy it._

'_**You should. It's cheap.'**_

…_You're making no sense again. Go back to logic-mode._

'_**It switches occasionally.'**_

_Sigh… How do I put up with me?_

Suddenly, pain. But only slightly.

_Uh, ow? Again? What's going on, why the sudden head- …W-Wait, is Rise-chan-_

'_**No, she is not.'**_

_Wha- H-How are you so sure?_

'_**Wouldn't the pain be far greater than this?'**_

…_Well, true, but we're still a little ways from Junes…_

'_**Irrelevant. Panicking covers a very large range, remember? Rise was able to feel you when she was in another town.'**_

_So, she's alright then? The pain I'm feeling is just a stubbed toe or something?_

'_**Most likely. I wouldn't worry about it.'**_

_Hmm… Okay._

* * *

I started worrying.

When we reached the food court, we found out we were the last ones to arrive, unfortunately causing my earlier plans to go to waste. We set out for the TV world immediately, and I decided to ask Rise about whatever the heck was happening.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have.

"Your _**WHAT**_?" I shouted.

That garnered everyone's attention. They only heard the last word, thankfully, so I somehow managed to divert away their eyes to a large poster not too far from where we stood, showing an advertisement for a video game based on an anime. I told them I was just surprised to find out that a game was coming out for that show, and luckily they bought it.

Continuing on…

"Your _**WHAT**_?" I whispered.

"Shut. _**UP**_. The others don't know about it yet and I don't plan on telling them," she said through gritted teeth. Her pained expression returned and she focused on the others ahead. "…It started earlier today."

"B-But, shouldn't it have started, like, two years ago?" She looked at me funny. "What? They teach that stuff in school, I know when it happens. Or… when it _should_ happen."

"W-Well, yeah, I guess it should've, but… it just hadn't started until now."

"And so what I'm feeling is… Um."

"Yeah… Pretty much."

"Mmm…"

"…"

_Awk-__**WARD**__. …This is so weird. I'm feeling the pain that no guy should have to go through._

"The, um, fact that it started two days after… well, _that_, doesn't mean anything, does it?"

Rise shook her head. "I have no idea…" Her brows furrowed even deeper as we continued to walk.

"It must be really painful…"

"It is… Argh, why couldn't I have stayed home today…?"

"If you just told them, you wouldn't have had to come with us."

"B-But… it's just so embarrassing…" _Tell me about it._

"Well… You could've told them you had to help out at the tofu shop."

"…Truth be told… I hadn't thought of that."

"…Of course you didn't."

She looked up and frowned at me. "Hey, I had something else on my mind the whole morning. I was more focused on not being in pain than anything else."

"That's… understandable. Sorry."

"There's no reason for you to be," she shook her head. "You're probably in just as much pain as I am, no thanks to me..."

_Boy do you got that right._ I grimaced and put a hand to my forehead. _Today will be a loooooong day._

* * *

The yellow platform with body outlines and scaffoldings was the same as ever, so instead of wasting time looking at the sights (read: fog), Souji quickly informed us that we'd be going to as many places as we could so we could fight the humongous Shadows at the top.

I leaned over to Rise. "Told ya," I whispered.

"Shut up," she glared back at me.

When Yosuke asked if Yukiko's castle was the first place on the list, Souji replied, "No, because it's already gone."

"Gone? Whaddaya mean?" asked his partner.

"_Some_ people-" He eyed my fellow first-years and I, "-had snuck in here once before and killed it before we could get a chance to do it ourselves."

Our remaining senpai looked at each other in bewilderment, then turned their heads to us. I laughed nervously, Rise turned away, and Kanji scratched the back of his neck.

"So then the next place on the list will be Kanji's bathhouse," Souji announced before any questions could be asked.

"Gh-" Kanji nearly choked on his own spit. "W-Why me?"

"Compared to the other places, the Shadows in the sauna are one of the weakest, which would mean the Shadow at the top is also not as strong." He now addressed everyone present. "If we're going to try and go for all of them today, we'll start off with the feeblest one available and see just what it'll take to defeat them."

"But…" Rise spoke up, and all eyes turned to her. Ignoring her pains, she said, "Are you sure we'd be able to get through them all in one day? When the three of us-" Teddie cleared his throat. "..._four_ of us, came in here back in August, there wasn't a butterfly outside to teleport us to the top floor. We had to climb up the whole castle to get there."

"Really?" Chie asked. Rise nodded. "Hmm, that'd be trouble then. Getting right to the top of four different places in one day will be tough…"

"But then again," I raised a finger to allow myself to speak. "The common Shadows in Yukiko-senpai's castle were pathetically weak. They'd try to run away if we got too close. They were scared shitless of us."

"Oh, I get what you mean." Kanji was quick to catch on, surprisingly. "If we just rush through there to the top, we'll be able reach it in no time flat!"

"…I was just getting to that, but essentially, yeah. Like last time, we're sure to get there quick." I grinned sheepishly. "I mean the most challenging thing about our trip there was actually finding the stairs to the next floor."

"I see…" Souji had a hand to his chin as he spoke. He was nodding before allowing a smile to form. "Then here's what we'll do. We'll power-rush through Kanji's bathhouse-" Kanji sighed. "-followed by Andrew's manor-" I cringed. "-then Rise-chan's… er, club-" Rise frowned. "-and finally, Mitsuo's game." No one did anything.

"Huh…" I blinked. "Now that I think about it, that's _still_ a lot to do."

"I'm sure we'll be able to do it," Yukiko replied. "They'll be weaker than what we've faced so far already."

"Yeah," Chie agreed, nodding and clenching her fists happily. "And plus we've got seven fighters rearing to go. I doubt we'll be beaten that easily." She grinned widely, "Besides, if we _do_ find ourselves in a bit of trouble, we can always just use Yosuke as a scapegoat and get the heck outta there."

"_Huh_?" The guy in blanched. "W-What do you mean by _that_?"

"Yosuke? A goat?" Teddie spoke up. His costume's eyes squinted as he looked Yosuke up and down, trying to imagine him as a goat. "I… don't really see that. He reminds me more of a frog, actually."

Yosuke's eye twitched. "And _you_ look more like an egg than a bear! So shut up, will ya?"

Teddie fumed as the rest of us laughed at his expense, until Souji returned things to order. "Alright, enough chatter. We're burning daylight here, so let's go now."

"Yes, sir!" everyone cried.

* * *

_Holy paper airplanes it is HOT in here._

They didn't call it a sauna for nothing: Kanji's created 'dungeon' was sweltering hot when we got to its entrance, which resembled a changing room. Two rows of lockers lined the way to a small door in front of us, which was spewing steam - _Or is it the fog?_ - all over the place.

"Phew!" Rise, more worried about the heat than anything else, was quick to fan herself with her hand. "It's hot in here!" She glanced to her left. "Kanji, why'd you have to make a place like this?"

Kanji looked at her as if she were crazy. "Wha- I-I didn't _choose_ to make this place! It was all… s-subconscious shit 'n stuff!"

She pulled on her collar to get whatever cold air there was in here circulating through her clothes. "Yeah, uh, no. There's a reason for this. A not-so subtle one."

A _huge_ vein popped up on Kanji's forehead. "Why'd _you_ make that strip club, then?"

Rise flinched, and chose to ignore the question. Turning to Souji, she quickly asked, "Who's on the team first, Senpai?"

Not missing a beat, Souji replied, "I was thinking having Yukiko-chan, Chie-chan and Yosuke on the team first, since you three went in here not to long ago. Depending on how easy this will be, you guys will switch up when we get to Andrew's place."

"Oh, joy," I heard myself mutter. "I get to fight in my own mansion. Swell..."

"Sounds good to me," Yosuke said as he twirled the kunai in his hands. _Aww, lucky! I wanted to be a ninja…_ "Let's go. Sooner we beat that thing the sooner we can get out of this scorching hell."

"I totally agree," Chie agreed, sitting down on one of the benches along the lockers. "I can't believe we were able to fight here back in May… How the heck did we do that?"

"I don't think it was _this_ hot last time," Yukiko said, glancing around. She was actually putting her weapon to good use by fanning herself with it. "Though that was so long ago, so I don't really know…"

"I think I know why!" Teddie suddenly shouted. "I think it's because he's become more flustered when around that Naoto guy! It's so obvious!"

Souji, Yosuke and I were forced to restrain Kanji from killing the bear.

* * *

Not only was the entrance to the bathhouse burning hot, the interior was as well. Every few meters or so we'd walk by a large boxes with just as big, boiling rocks in them, emitting heat and steam and sending it everywhere through the sauna.

I also noticed that, compared to mine, Rise's, Yukiko's and Mitsuo's dungeons, the doors to this one were pitifully puny. We were forced to file through them, one by one, so that we didn't get stuck by our shoulders. I was pleasantly surprised that Teddie was able to squeeze through the doorways in his big bear suit.

It wasn't long after we started on the first floor that we ran into a Shadow. And, as expectedly, it shrieked in terror when it saw us and scurried away, the same as the ones in the castle. Immediately the second-years started after it, with the rest of us following right behind them (Rise was limping more than anything else, so I stayed with her as Kanji and Teddie went on).

They all rounded a corner, and when we did as well Souji slashed his sword onto the creature, splitting it in two. Those two halves of it morphed into two rather big, rather round police officers. They had a pair of handcuffs in one hand, a pistol in the other and, strangely, a large, gaping hole in their stomachs with a key spinning around in it.

I didn't know what creeped me out more: the _key _in the _hole_, or the symbolism of _police officers _in a _sauna_.

Let those statements sink in for a moment.

Without wasting time, Souji bellowed orders to his classmates, telling Chie and Yukiko to go after one while he and Yosuke fought the other. That kind of opponent was fairly weak, being beaten by a single attack from each person and not even being able to attack once. After adjusting his glasses, Souji told the fighters to try and ignore the ones running away, since going to defeat them would only slow our progress down. Once he said that, we continued on our way.

Walking right next to him, I was able to tell that Kanji was in a sour mood. "You alright?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the senpai in front of us.

"Hm?" He turned to me in surprise. "Oh, yeah yeah. I'm just not really wanting to be here right now. Too many… awkward memories."

"Yeah… I know what you mean. I-"

"Ahh, no, you don't. Not really," Kanji deadpanned.

"…O-Oh. I…guess you're right." _He really is… Compared to me, his problems were a lot more… heavier. Mine were only about jealousy towards Sean, but __**his**__… Huh… Of course if I had continued to do __**that**__ all those years ago I may still have had some problems…_

Moving on from those thoughts, I looked back up to see that the second-years had already started battle with another enemy. This time the enemies were a bunch of cupids, which immediately made me choke on my saliva.

"Andy, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I answered Teddie's loud question. _The messages given by these Shadows aren't very subtle, just like Rise-chan said…_

To my side, Kanji glared at me with all his might.

I stood upright and, figuring that the others would be alright, glanced down to Rise. She was-

"Arrgh, it's so freaking hot…! Why couldn't there be an air conditioner in here…? I'm burning up!"

Actually, her twintails seemed a little more deflated than normal. They were flat against her head instead of popping out from the top of it,

"At least it's not cold," I said as she fanned herself. "I'd much prefer this heat to the freezing cold."

"I can't stand this heat… It hasn't been a problem before I came back to Inaba but now it's unbearable…"

"That's probably because you have a Persona now," Teddie commented, his eyes still focused on the fight. "From what I can tell, you're weak to Agi skills, so that'd explain why you're feeling so uncomfortable."

"…He said something smart for once," Rise cracked a smile and avoided Teddie's angry eyes. "I guess that makes sense. But doesn't Chie-senpai feel anything? Didn't she tell me one time that she was weak to fire, too?"

"Maybe she's just tryin' to ignore it?" Kanji suggested, not sounding as if he actually cared. "I mean, I don't see why else…"

"Y-Yeah, probably…" Rise panted. She shook her head and straightened herself. "She's stronger than me, so obviously she'd be able to just forget… about… Y-Yosuke-senpai?"

I looked ahead. While Souji, Chie and Yukiko dodged the cupids' arrows, Yosuke was just standing there, a hand clutching his head and not even focusing on the fighting happening before him. "What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"W-Wait, I've seen this before!" Kanji yelled, eyes wide with shock.

"Oh no!" Teddie cried out. He cupped his paws over his unmoving mouth and yelled, "Sensei! Yosuke's all confused, snap him out of it!"

Souji immediately stopped mid-swing and looked at his classmate, eyes widening and legs jumping away from the Shadow. "Oi, Yosuke!" he shouted. No response. Attempting another slash at the cupid and killing it, the second-year bounded over to Yosuke. "Hey! Wake up!"

Yosuke's head shot up and his eyes locked with Souji's. Before any more rehabilitating could be done, two kunai lashed out and narrowly missed our leader.

"S-Senpai?" Rise shouted, confusion, shock and nervousness all weaved together to make one panicked look. "W-What's going on!"

"I already told you, Yosuke's confused!" Teddie repeated. "Don't tell me no one's gotten confused or something since you started coming in here with us!"

"No, no one has!" she bellowed back. Rise quickly turned to face the bear. "Wait, what do you mean 'or something'?"

"I'll explain later!" Ted shouted, waving her off with a fuzzy hand. "Right now I've gotta focus!"

Rise yelled in annoyance and defiance, but I, too, turned my attention back to the duel in front of us. Souji was clenching his teeth, staring down his friend-turned-foe with his sword at his side. He turned to Chie and Yukiko, who were just watching from the sidelines, and told them to keep away at a safe distance. Yosuke, on the other hand, was still wobbling back and forth on the spot. His eyes had become unfocused and he'd occasionally let out a gurgle-like noise, almost like the noise a zombie would make.

The confused boy suddenly reached into his pocket. I didn't know what to expect from this action, so I readied myself for anything.

I nearly choked on spit again when he threw a ten thousand yen bill and a whole lot of change onto the floor.

"Wh-What the hell is he doing!" I yelled, completely dumbfounded. "You'd have to be a complete moron to just throw money away! What is he, stupid?"

"Didn't we just figure out he's not acting as himself?" Kanji bellowed. "Sure, he ain't the sharpest tool in the shed-" _Haha Yosuke just got called a tool._ "-but he'd know better than to just throw money away."

"You're acting pretty defensive about him, Kanji," Rise remarked, a sarcastic smirk on her face.

"Gh- …Sh-Shut up."

Souji hardly batted an eye at Yosuke, and stood his ground firmly. He didn't dare attack his best friend, in fears of harming him, and simply waited to see what he would do.

After several seconds of nothing happening, Souji tried reasoning with him again, but this only resulted in him having to dodge three knife slashes. "Okay, that didn't work!" he shouted, mostly to himself. Unfortunately, he also just so happened to hit the wall and fall down onto one of the benches lining it.

"Souji-kun!" I heard Yukiko cry. She and Chie were not to far from him, both of them wearing horror-stricken looks.

Yosuke, who most likely didn't realize what he was doing, flipped one of the kunai around and raised it above his head. Souji's eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and he must've been completely paralyzed in fear since he wasn't moving from the spot.

"No! Senpai!" Kanji bellowed, taking a step forward as if he were about to run towards him. And I'm willing to bet he would have, if it wasn't for someone already beating him to the punch.

"Hi-_YAW_!"

A swift kick to the jaw sent Yosuke flying towards us. Us non-combatants quickly moved out of the way as he and his knives came spinning past us. He landed on the floor with a grunt and started rolling towards the wall, which he hit and stopped with his feet dangling over his head. His two kunai landed harmlessly (and coincidentally) right next to his hands.

It took a second for my feeble brain to process it, but it seemed that Chie wasn't exactly following our leader's wish in trying to keep any harm from befalling Yosuke in his confused state.

Yukiko rushed over to see if Souji was alright, as did Chie and Teddie, while I decided to check on Yosuke. Rise and Kanji, probably because it was already crowded by our leader, followed me.

"Oi, Senpai." No response from him. I nudged him with my foot. He didn't move, but his eyelids squeezed tightly together. "I know you're awake. Don't make me give you another kick to the head."

He groaned and slowly but surely sat up, rubbing his jaw all the while. "W-What the hell happened…?" he managed to get out. _Huh, getting kicked in the face cured him… Cool!_

"You got confused, were about to stab Souji-senpai and Chie-senpai kicked you in the face," Kanji quickly summarized, as blunt as ever.

"Urgh…" Yosuke shook his head, as if doing so would rid him of the pain. Afterwards he looked back up. "'Confused'…? You mean, by like a Shadow or somethin'…?"

"Exactly," I nodded, and helped him to his feet. "Although I had no idea that Shadows could do something from normal attacks. This is the first time I've ever seen anything like that."

"Really?" Yosuke asked. Both Rise and I nodded, and he turned to the girl. "You too?"

"Mhm."

"Huh… I guess the last time anyone _was_ confused or something was sometime when we were about to rescue you… But that was like, way back in June."

"It's been that long?" Kanji spoke up. "Damn, it's been a while."

"Yeah…" Yosuke looked past us and walked over to Souji. "Hey, um, sorry 'bout that. W-Whatever it was I did."

Now, normally, I'd suspect that anyone who got attacked for no reason would be pissed, even if the attacker didn't know what was going on. They'd probably stay upset for a long time, and may not speak or possibly downright ignore the aggressor. Maybe even try and get back at them via payback (for instance, throwing socks at them).

Souji, however, was not like those people.

"Don't worry about that," he said, standing up from the bench. "I know you didn't mean to. Just try to watch out for enemy attacks next time."

"Heh, I nearly killed you and you're lecturing me about evasion…" Yosuke chuckled ironically.

I could have been hearing things, but to my side I swear I heard Rise mutter, "Don't joke about that kind of thing…"

"Alright, I will." Yosuke nodded to Souji, and the two of them, like bros, pounded fists. "Now then…" And slowly, _ever _so slowly, his head turned to Chie. "…I need to have a word with you."

"Huh?" Chie blinked, and looked around at everyone else. When she saw everyone was also looking at her, she pointed a finger to her face and said, "Me?"

"You frickin' nearly broke my jaw!" he bellowed, waving his arms in the air madly.

She was taken back by the yell, but she quickly found her ground. "W-Well, duh I did!" she retaliated, also throwing her arms about. "You were about to stab him! What else was I supposed to do?"

"You could've tackled me to the ground or something! Pushed me out of the way, I don't know! But did you have to aim for the jaw?"

"Consider yourself lucky that I didn't aim any lower!"

Practically everyone visibly cringed at that. Yes, even the girls.

Souji, our glorious leader, stepped in between the two before fists and feet started flying. "Alright, alright, break it up!" He pushed on their shoulders to separate them even further. "Bickering like this isn't going to help at all. While it is true that Chie-chan _could_ have pushed him away instead of kick him-" Chie turned her head to the sighed and tch'd. "-she _did_ easily cure you of your confusion. Actually, I think a word of thanks is in order."

"You gotta be kidding me…" Yosuke palmed his face.

"Come on!" Rise shouted through cupped hands, easily startling us. "Just kiss and make up already, I'm still burning up over here!" _And judging from what I'm feeling, you're in a lot of pain too…_

Both of their heads shot to face her. "K-K-Kiss?"

I cracked a smile. Knowing that Yosuke _did_ harbour a crush - maybe even a slight one - toward Chie, I decided to have some fun. "Aww, c'mon, Senpai, nothin' wrong with a little smooch, right? Remember two days ago in Port Island?"

"Don't. Bring. That. Up." Kanji growled beside me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. Ahh, geez, why _did_ I bring that up?" I had just remembered my turn as King. Traumatizing times, really.

The two second-years simply stared at each other. After at least thirty seconds, Chie haughtily turned around. "Come on, we've wasted enough time as it is. Let's hurry up and get to the top floor."

Somehow, Yosuke looked both relived _and_ disappointed, but he nonetheless followed Chie and his other classmates as well, with us younger ones behind them. Before we could get anywhere, however, he immediately turned back to us. "I vaguely remember throwing money away," he announced. "Does anyone see it?"

"Uhm." We all looked along the floor to find however much he dropped. It only took a few minutes, but I managed to find it on the other side of the hallway. I was about to tell them, but a dastardly idea popped into my brain. Since no one was looking, I just decided to put the money in my own pocket and not tell them that I found it. "Sorry, not over here." I called out. _I am a bastard._

"You sure?" Rise asked, carefully squatting down beside me. _…It's as if she's getting ready to take a piss or something…_ "I could've sworn he threw it down around here…"

"Yep. I've looked and looked but there's nothing over here." _Liiiiiiiiiiiieeeeesss._

"Mm. Well, I don't really care. Just hurry up and find it so we can leave quicker."

"We still have at least ten more floors to go through, you know," I chuckled.

She blinked, groaned loudly and sat down, her head hanging behind her. "I had completely forgot we're still on the first floor," Rise admitted. "Argh, I just wanna get out of here…"

"And take that bath?"

"Yeeeah… That'd be so good right now… And it's not like the heat would bother me as much as it is now…"

"That's true." Since Persona abilities only worked in the TV world, our strengths and weaknesses did as well. "But I still don't like wind, even out in the real world. Or the cold, for that matter."

"Neither do I, really… But enough about that." She stood up again. "Let's go before it gets any hotter."

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as they say," I replied, standing up to my full height as well.

"I would. But I can't." She started to fan herself again, but it obviously didn't do any good. "Hopefully we don't stop anymore until we get to the top."

* * *

Rise's wish came true. Nothing major happened on our way up, besides a minimal amount of cuts and bruises, most of which came from either the floor or each other. Thankfully, no one else got confused, or anything else. Rise and I had yet to bear witness to other ailments, and according to Teddie there were a few more that we hadn't seen yet. I vaguely remember being silenced once, during the fight against his 'bear of a Shadow', but the memory was kind of hazy.

We reached the very top floor not long after that. One would think that, being the top of the place, the door would be bigger, but alas, it was still puny.

"Just behind this door," Teddie announced. "There's a big Shadow in there, but I know you guys can take it down!"

"Of course," Souji smirked lightly and turned to the rest of us. "Everyone ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Kanji answered for everyone, practically reading my mind.

"Alright, let's go." Unimpressively, Souji kicked the tiny door down and raced in while the rest of us awkwardly went in single-file.

And what happened to await us than yet _another_ police officer.

"You've gotta be shitting me," I mumbled. I think I felt my eyebrow twitch slightly, too.

Almost immediately, the Shadow pointed its gun at us and pulled the trigger.

"GET DOWN!" Souji cried as everyone complied. The bullet harmlessly passed over our heads, and our four senpai quickly hopped to their feet and ran up to the fat officer. "Kohai, get behind something!"

"Ehh?" I looked up at him. "Why?"

"It could-" Dodged a bullet. "-fire at you guys at any time!"

"…Oh, true. Okay!" I rushed to my feet, helped Rise up to hers, and brought her over behind one of the poles that held the ceiling up. Teddie and Kanji managed to get themselves behind the one on the other side of the room, and each of us poked out from behind our pillars to watch the fight.

Yosuke charged first, spinning his daggers around and trying to stab the flab off of the Shadow, much the same way he was about to stab Souji. He managed to get both knives in its side for massive damage, but he was quickly flicked away by a swing of the Shadow's arms. He did, however, leave behind two clean cuts in its gut, so his sacrifice wasn't for nothing.

Chie decided to go around the Shadow for a sneak attack, backed up by Souji who was keeping it busy. Tapping her shoe on the floor to get ready, she started to run to the monster, and just before reaching it she _leaped_ high in the sky (well, there was no sky, but still). Doing at least two somersaults she axe-kicked the officer square in the noggin, causing to cry loudly in pain. The martial artist then fell backwards, landed on her hands and flipped back onto her feet.

On the other side of our pillar, Yosuke whistled.

Souji was next. He was able to quickly move out of the way of the Shadow's bullets, and when he was close enough he jabbed the hilt of his sword just above the gaping hole, causing the monster to keel over. Taking the advantage, Souji slammed the blade right into the Shadow's shoulder. Whatever noise it made, it was surely in pain.

The group had decided to not use their Personae as much as they could, which was why their attacks were only physical. Wasting their energy on the weaker Shadows really was unnecessary, in my humble opinion. Which was why Yukiko, who was apparently not good at fan-to-hand combat, stood by and waited for someone to get hurt so she could heal them.

The pain in the back of my head suddenly expanded enough for me to actually remember it. I looked behind me. Rise was now sitting against the pillar, her face strained and her hands wrapped around her-

…

_Well… It's not her stomach._

"Um," I started. "I probably should've asked this earlier, but how are you holding up?"

She looked up at me and forced a smile. "Just peachy. If I can keep from moving, then I'll be fine."

"Alright." I nodded and turned to look at Kanji and Teddie. They seemed to be holding up, and were chatting to each other about something I couldn't pick out. Reading lips in English is difficult enough, but in Japanese it's nigh impossible for me. The fact that one of the mouths wasn't moving didn't help my situation.

Something suddenly glinted on the floor. My guess was that something (another guess being Yosuke's kunai) got deflected up towards the ceiling and hit a light fixture of some sort. The lighting moved and shone over the spot on the floor, which had caused it to flash.

My muscles tensed. It was one of the coins Yosuke owned that I took for myself.

_If they see that, they'll know something is up. But if I go out and get it then they'll know that I have his money. Or- no, wait, I'll say that it's mine. Yeah, that's a good idea._

I looked back to the others. It really had been Yosuke's kunai hitting the fixture, since he was fighting with only one knife now. I was waiting for a good opportunity to go for it - preferably when the Shadow turned around or something. Luckily, after about a minute it did so, and I quickly got up and strode over to the coin.

"H-Hey! What're you doing?" Kanji yelled at me.

"I have to get this," I answered quickly and calmly. I pocketed the coin and turned around to go back to behind the pillar.

What happened next happened all too fast. But for the sake of drama, picture it in slow motion.

Kanji's voice called out again, telling me to get down. I was turning around to look at him, when my eyes landed on the giant Shadow. It was looking at me, and was raising its gun to shoot it right at me. My feet seemed to be glued onto the spot. I couldn't move a muscle, no matter how much I told my body to do so. It's always weird how that happens. A life or death situation, and you can hardly do anything to get out of the way, almost resulting in the death option.

Rise shrieked my name as the trigger pulled. I couldn't see the bullet that well, but that was probably because, somehow, my head was against the floor and everything was turned on the side.

"GAAAAAHHHH!"

My eyes widened at the sound of the scream. I scrambled to my feet and looked to my left.

Kanji was kneeling on the ground, clutching his left shoulder and breathing heavily. Although from this angle there didn't appear to be any blood, I'd still bet my life on the fact that it hurt.

"K… Kanji…" I breathed. _Oh my God… This is __**my**__ fault…!_ "What-"

"Idiot!" he grunted, not even bothering to turn to me. "Get back under cover!"

"What? B-But you're hurt!"

"Forget about me, GO!"

_What was I thinking, going out into the open like that? Because of me, Kanji's hurt…!_

"What the hell are you doing?" Kanji shouted.

"Huh!" Snapping out of my thoughts, I immediately made my decision. Instead of going back to safety by myself, I wrapped his arm over my own shoulder and hefted him up. He held back another grunt, and, seeing as how we were closer to the left side of the room, we went behind the left pole. It took a couple of seconds, but miraculously the others were able to keep the Shadow busy so that it didn't fire at us again.

I set him down against the pillar, right next to where Teddie was standing and watching the fight. I don't think he noticed us at all.

"What were you thinking, taking that bullet for me?" I yelled at him. I had figured that someone would be able to heal him right up, so I didn't bother to try and help him secure the wound.

"What were _you_ thinking, going out in the open like that?" he countered, his hand still clutching his shoulder. "What was so important that you had to risk your life?"

I couldn't answer. Something as petty as a fifty yen coin was _not_ something any normal person would wager with their life. I had acted without thinking, and Kanji was paying the consequences for my rashness. And there wasn't anything I could do to help.

I bowed my head. "I'm sorry…"

He only clenched his teeth tighter.

"K-K-Kanji!" Teddie suddenly yelled, startling us both. I had only noticed then, but Kintoki-Douji was summoned right above his head. "You're poisoned!"

"I'm… what?" Kanji asked, not grasping what the bear had said.

"Poisoned! As in, you're life's slowing draining away!"

That struck us like a punch in the face. "W-What!" I shouted. "Th-Those bullets were poisonous!"

"T-They must've been," Teddie said, still a little shook up. "We need to do something, fast."

"B-But what? Do you have something that can neutralize it?"

"Uhh, l-lemme check." On his outfit were a bunch of pockets that could be easily overlooked if you didn't know about them. Teddie stuffed a paw into each one, taking out whatever was in them (_if_ there was something in them) and examining it. Nothing he extracted would work against curing poison, unfortunately. "N-No, I don't have anything!"

"Oh crap, um-!" Without even thinking, I stood up and poked out behind the pillar. It was clear that the fighters had the upper hand - the Shadow was crouched over in exhaustion and pain, while the four humans were standing triumphantly over it. The enemy didn't seem to be down and out yet, though, since it was still swinging its arms around like crazy. "Senpai!" I called out.

Chie was the one to hear me. "W-What?"

"Kanji got hit and now he's poisoned!"

Her eyes became wide behind her glasses, and she quickly found and rushed over to Souji. She explained it to him, he looked over to me, and quickly devised a plan of action. "Yukiko-chan, go over to Kanji and keep healing him! Andrew, fill in for her!"

_The Shadow's almost dead! Is that really necessary?_ "Well, whatever," I mumbled to myself. Gripping the cleaver I forgot I had in my hands, I rushed out into the open (and almost into a happy-to-be-helping Yukiko at the same time, but we managed to avoid each other, thankfully). Coincidentally, the Shadow was focused on Yosuke, leaving its back wide open for a sneak attack by me. It worked, and the creature howled in pain. I kept slashing and stabbing at it, with frequent help from the others, and in less than fifteen seconds the Shadow was reduced to icor.

Everyone cheered, but I still wasn't happy.

* * *

Kanji was cured not long after, by the help of one of Souji's many Personae and a handy-dandy skill called Posumudi. Our leader then spoke to my friend, a little upset about him going out into the open to get shot. From what I could tell, Kanji wasn't going to say anything about me, but the ever present guilt within me forced me to speak up before he had to make up an excuse.

"It's not his fault," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's mine. I was stupid, I went out into the open. He just pushed me away from the attack…"

The two male combatants were a little taken back by this, and after confirming it with Kanji (who also seemed a little bewildered) Souji came over to me. "Why did you go out in the open, then?"

I glanced away in shame. "I saw something."

"What?"

I scowled at myself for doing such an inane thing, and reached into my pocket and hauled out its contents. "Here," I said to Yosuke, handing him the money. "I found this on the first floor when we were looking for it. I took it and told no one."

He gaped at my open palm, but said nothing and took the yen from my hand. "Why'd you take it?" he asked, a bitter look on his face.

"A prank," I told him promptly. "A coin must've fallen out of my pocket when we all ducked underneath that first bullet. When I noticed it, I went to get it." _Strange, I thought he'd be more angry than this._

"Why didn't you wait until the fight was over to get it?" Souji asked.

My scowl deepened. "I… I don't know. I just saw it and rushed in…" I bowed before them. "I'm so sorry. I'll look before I leap next time, I promise."

No one said anything for a while, and I was afraid that I had done something wrong with my actions (Japanese customs aren't my strong point, okay?). However, just as I was peeking up at them, I felt a hand run its fingers through my hair.

"Now, now, there's no need for that," Souji insisted, a gentle smile on his face. "What's done is done, no need to feel sorry for it. Besides, Kanji's fine now." He turned to him. "Aren't you?"

Kanji nodded immediately and said, "Yeah! Never felt better, actually!" _I sincerely doubt that. You're probably still pissed at me…_

"Still," I said to Kanji, standing straight back up, "I caused you harm without even realizing what I was doing. I was being an idiot and acted without thinking. And for that, I'm sorry."

"Dude, that's like, the third time you apologized already," Kanji chuckled. "It was a mistake! 'S not like it killed me or anything."

"It could've…"

"But it didn't, so everything's fine now," Souji mentioned. He nodded to me and walked past us towards the door. "Come on, everyone, we're burning daylight. If we want to finish up with the mansion we have to hurry."

"Oh, yay, the mansion," I cheered dreadfully. Sighing again, I followed behind the other two guys and glanced over to the left. Chie and Yukiko, who had not been a part of our 'men-only' discussion, were carefully lifting Rise up onto her feet. Teddie was standing a little ways away, looking as confused as ever. _Hmm. Guess Rise-chan told them. That was the smarter thing to do._

"Er, Souji-kun?" Letting Chie take Rise, Yukiko walked over to the leader and whispered something into his ear. It was his turn to become slightly red in the face, and after quickly gazing at the two other girls he turned to look at the rest of us. "Change of plans. We'll call it a day for now."

"What, already?" Yosuke asked with a tilt to his head.

"Mhm. Some… umm…" It seemed as if he was having trouble finding the right words. _Well, of course he would. How do you casually bring up a topic like that…?_ "…Unexpected circumstances have arisen, and one of us isn't able to fight."

"Unexpected… circumstances?" Kanji repeated.

Yosuke turned to him. "You know what those words mean, right?"

He looked at his senpai with a baffled face. "What? Of course I do!"

Yosuke chuckled lightly. "Just checkin'."

Kanji huffed, and looked back to Souji. "So, uh, what's goin' on?"

Leader stiffened and glanced to the side again. "U-Uh, w-well, you see-"

"Oh, Rise-chan's having her 'period.' …Whatever that is."

I face-palmed _hard_. "Stupid, _stupid _bear…!"

"Her _**WHAT**_?" yelled the two boys, practically jumping back in surprise. They quickly looked at Rise, who just as quickly blushed deeply and turned away from them.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, the red-headed girl muttered, "I'm gonna kill that bear…"

"Hmm?" Teddie said innocently, totally unaware of the awkwardness that he surely caused. "What? What'd I say?"

Yosuke and Kanji were spewing out more jumbled words and stutters, blushing like crazy all the while. Having already known (and currently experiencing) it, I simply sighed once again and walked up to the door. "Alright, enough fooling around guys. We're done with this place, so let's just get out of here."

"H-Hey, wait a second," Yosuke suddenly called out. "I-If she's going through that, then don't you feel-"

"Gh-!" I nearly tripped over my own two feet. "_Sh-Shut up_!"

* * *

When we finally managed to reach the familiar yellow platform, we carefully eased Rise out into the real world and followed after her. We had to split up from each other to go our separate ways home, and Chie and Yukiko opted to help Rise get back to her house. After a few minutes of walking, the pain in my head disappeared completely, and I sighed in relief.

…Which was followed by an innocent question. "Andy, what's a period?"

I nearly tripped up again. "D-Didn't the girls explain it to you?"

"No, they just shooed me away. I felt so beary sad because of that."

My eyebrow twitched. "Look it up on the laptop when we get back to the room."

"Alright…"

Silence between the bear and I, most likely because I was chatting it up with the dragon.

'_**Andrew?'**_

_Hmm?_

'_**You never meant for that to be a prank, did you?'**_

…_Dude, s__top looking into my memories._

'_**I can not, for I am you.'**_

_Yeah, yeah, that's always your excuse._

**_'Because it is the truth.'_**

_Hmph..._

'_**How could you think of stealing a friend's belongings?'**_

…_I guess when the opportunity showed itself, I couldn't help myself… Besides, it's not like I'm ashamed of what I did. I was, like, eight. I hardly knew any better._

'_**That doesn't excuse your actions from back then.'**_

_Just be thankful I haven't been stealing things up till now._


	31. Trusts and Distrusts

Kay. I'm back. Everyone chill the F down. I got this.

Just one quick thing to say: thanks everyone who alerted my story! Actually kinda motivated me to keep on going with it. Also, yes, new title. It'll make sense in the distant future. Don't translate, or else you may spoil something. Maybe.

Let's just skip the formalities and get on with it.

**Eggmiester:** Him stealing may not come back to haunt him, but it will come up again sometime. For the PS3, I have ModNation Racers, Valkyria Chronicles, Mass Effect 2, and two other unmentionable and pointless games that came with it.

**Hishin Trueflame:** It was a month between the last two chapters, at the very least. I'm not surprised that not many people reviewed, but still, I'm glad some people remember.

**Astrih Konnash:** Yes, the situation was unusual, but... Well, I don't really have any comeback for that. ^^; I'm just happy that everything was written right... Hopefully everything in this chapter is accurate.

So, like, yeah. Some parts were difficult to put into words, while some flowed through my fingers like water through a stream. Some parts you may thoroughly enjoy, while others make you want to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spoon. That's how I feel about this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I own Andy, and no one else. Everyone and thing presented in this story belongs to their respective owners.

* * *

**~Monday, September 12~  
****~3:00 PM~**

* * *

Today was filled with headaches and awkwardness. No further details are needed.

There was, however, something to note: not only was Naoto avoiding eye contact with and downright ignoring me, he also seemed to be in a bit of a rush. During the last class of the day, I took note of him tapping his pencil on the desk, impatiently awaiting the final bell to ring. As soon as the teacher left the room afterwards, he packed his things and hurriedly exited, accidentally slamming the door on his way out.

_He was like that all of last week, too, but today he just seemed… a bit different. Late for something? Waiting for someone? _I didn't even know.

Not long after he had left, Kanji also decided to take his leave. He said that he had to make some deliveries from his textile shop around town, and so he needed to get a move on. We said goodbye to him, and then there were just the two of us.

Rise slowly stood up from her desk and turned around to face me. "Hey, can I borrow your Geography notes? I wasn't able to write mine down."

"Why not?" I asked without a thought as I put my own books away. She only narrowed her gaze at me. "…Oh, right. Distractions, right. Um, yeah, hang on." I fished it out of my backpack and handed it to her. "My written Japanese isn't very good, though, so you may have a hard time picking out the words."

"Will I?" she asked, and opened the book and skimmed the pages. Upon reading the sentences, Rise was forced to squint in order to make them out. "Wha… What the heck is this?"

"My ?"

"…It sucks."

I felt as if a large cooking pan landed on my head. "C-Can you at least read any of it…?"

"Not… really. What's this sentence saying?"

"Lemme look."

"This sentence."

"Hmmm… Oh, that's just talking about climates and stuff."

"…Oh, I see it now… And this one?"

"The different kinds of mountains."

Turned a page. "Umm, this one."

"Different layers of soil…"

"How about this one?"

"Can I just assume you can't read my writing at all?"

"Absolutely." She gave a smug smile and put the book in her bag.

"It's not my fault the Geography teacher erases the board too quickly…"

"But it _is_ your fault that you don't right fast enough."

"I just find it challenging to make sure that all of the characters are written correctly."

"It's not that hard when you get used to it."

"But I'm _not_."

"Then you ought to practice."

I sighed and slung the suitcase-like backpack over my shoulder. "Is there really a point?"

"Of course. I won't be able to read your writing unless you don't."

"You make it sound like you'll be relying on me with class notes from now on."

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"…Tell you what," I sighed as I turned on my heel towards the door. "How about I go over to your place and 'translate' that stuff for you? I'll make sure to write a lot neater than that since I won't be rushed."

Rise perked up a little, and smiled gently. "Actually, I'm glad you brought that up."

"Oh really."

"Mhm. C'mon, let's walk and talk." Rise started towards the door, slow in her step. After getting out of the classroom, she hesitantly started. "…As you already know, I'm having some… d-difficulty walking."

"I do indeed know that," I mumbled.

"And it, um… hurts a bit to even stand up from sitting."

"Yeah…?"

"So, I'd like to ask you to… help me with things when we get to my house."

I quirked an eyebrow and looked at her. "What… kinds of things?"

"Like, fixing supper and drawing a bath for me. Those kinds of things."

"The bath?" My mind started to wander at the various things that could lead to, but I had to manually force it to stop.

"Yeah, you just have to run the water and help me up there. I can do the rest myself." She glanced up to me, a sly, if somewhat forced, smirk on her face. "Why? What were you thinking about?"

"U-Uh, nothing." _I don't think __**now**__ would be the best time to do something like that… Besides her Grandma might- …Wait._ "Hang on. Why not get your Grandma to do that stuff for you?"

"Oh, she called me during lunch that she was doing out and won't be back till later on tonight."

"…Where does an obaasan go to for over half the day…?"

"To a friend's house on the other side of town. The two of them actually haven't spoken in a while, so I doubt that Grandma will be coming home early."

"Ahh, I see. And it'd be a major inconvenience for you if you have to do everything for yourself, right?"

"Exactly," Rise nodded. Then she made a face and looked back at me. "Wait, you made it sound like I'm being selfish."

"And you make it sound like I'm going to be your slave," I countered. It was probably what she was hopping for, since she only responded by sticking her tongue out at me.

* * *

After slipping on our shoes and leaving the school grounds, we came across a kinda-sorta familiar sight: Naoto was standing alongside the road, a bored and impatient expression on his face, as he did his best to keep his cool while being hit on by two rather loud and obnoxious girls. _Actually, they look kinda like the ones from the first day of school… Wait, are they in our class? I can't seem to recall…_

"What's with that attitude of yours?" one of the girls nearly shouted, her hands on her hips and her face invading the detective's personal space. "You're acting as if we're poisonous or something!"

"We just wanna hang out with you!" the other girl pouted, as if trying to look angrily-cute.

The boy just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "As I've been telling you ladies from the start," he said scornfully, "I have no interest in hanging out with either of you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be leaving." Naoto started to make his way down the hill, but one of the girls abruptly blocked his path.

"You're not going anywhere," she said, a very dark look in her eyes. "In case you hadn't noticed, I always get what I want. I'm not about to let you get away just like that."

"M-Miyo-chan…" the other girl blinked, probably having never bearing witness to this side of her best friend.

"Huh. Forceful, aren't they?" I idly said.

"You think we should step in?" Rise wondered. "I don't think it's right to just leave him like that."

"Nah, he'll be fine. He'll find his way out of this. I'd bet my life on it."

"Deal."

"…Wait, what?"

Unbeknownst to the two girls, Naoto's hand balled up into a fist, knuckles white from the sheer strength he put into it. He sighed deeply, furrowed his brow, and _glared_ at the girl in his way. And I mean _glared_.

"Why, yes, I have noticed," Naoto smoothly said, despite how much rage was built up within him. "I've also noticed that you're arrogant, selfish, and lazy, and that you've never once bothered to do any of the school work for yourself, instead either forcing your peers to do it for you or copying it from their books. You believe that, just because you consider yourself more attractive than the rest of the class, you deserve every male you deem worthy enough to 'hang out' with you. You feel the need to put a person in his or her place if you simply don't like them, but you are also cowardly and run away whenever more arrive to fend you off. You like to boss people around because it gives you a sense of power and control over them. You're not just giving them senseless orders; you're presenting to them imaginary hope that they may be able to become your friend, or even more. But what you're really doing is just pushing them away, getting them 'out of your face,' and sending them on tasks that you are too apathetic to carry out for yourself. You're spoiled, stubborn, disrespectful to others' privacy, and overall just plain rude. And that's something I despise."

"…"

"…"

_That… That was uncalled for._

Eyes wide, mouth agape, and breathing heavy, the girl known as Miyo - _WAIT NO IT'S MIYOKO_ - slowly started to back away. "W-Why…"

"You've been in my way since school began and, quite frankly, I was getting annoyed by you."

"B-But... How-"

"I'm a detective. Analysis is my specialty."

And then the girl just _broke down_. She actually fell to her knees and started balling her eyes out into her hands. Her friend - _Goddammit I can't remember her name _- rushed to her side, screaming her name and trying her best to comfort her, while at the same time angrily (and somewhat cautiously) gazing up at Naoto.

To my amazement, the kid didn't even have a hint of regret or remorse in his eye. "I'd appreciate it if you'd no longer approach me with those thoughts in mind," he said aloofly, walking down the hill and past the girls. And without another word he was gone from our sights.

Rise and I still stood there, shocked and pretty much scared. I had never thought Naoto would be the kind of guy to talk down to someone - a _girl_ no less - when severely agitated. He was always calm, cool and collected whenever I saw him. Sure, he could get a little upset at times, but never on _this_ level before.

Miyoko had calmed down ever so slightly, but even from this distance I could still see the tears rolling down her eyes. Snapping out of her stupor faster than me, Rise quickly strode over to the girls (well, as quickly as she could), kneeled down and started consoling them. Despite there being questions I wanted to ask the Detective Prince, I decided to go over with the girls.

I realized that trying to cheer the girl up would be difficult for a guy she hardly knew, so I just waited around them. Not too close, but not too far away. The females, however, were speaking in near-whispers, so it was difficult trying to pick out the words. I _did_ hear the F-bomb drop, so it was pretty clear that Miyoko was upset. I also noticed that we were beginning to have a small crowd of students form a little ways away from us, but I managed to keep them moving down the hill with many evil glares. A bodyguard of sorts, I was. I guess.

"Ricketts."

"Hm?" I glanced down. Miyoko, still crouched down, was looking up at me from the corner of her eye. There were still tear marks on her cheeks, but there was an angry look on her face. "What?" _If you don't have the decency to use honorifics, then I'm not showing any compassion._

"Beat up Shirogane for me," she commanded simply.

"Beat him up?"

"Yeah…" The girl sniffed slightly, but her fists clenched and turned her knuckles white. "He deserves punishment… He must pay…"

I sighed and realized something. What Naoto said to this girl was true - she _was _controlling, and liked to order people around. Even like the way she is now, she was still acting as if she was the person in control. And although Naoto _did_ fly off the handle when he told her that, it's nevertheless the obvious truth.

"How about…" I started. "I just talk to him? See what made him flip out like that."

Rise's head shot towards me, a look clearly saying, 'Are you actually agreeing to help her?' I retaliated with one that said, 'Not really, I'm just curious about why he did that.'

"B-But, he needs to be taught a lesson!" Miyoko spat out the words, so full of hate towards the detective, even though she had her eyes set on him not even five minutes ago.

"Miyo-chan, just calm down," the other girl, whose name still escaped me - _WAIT NO IT'S KAORU_ - continued to try and get Miyoko to relax. Thankfully, she did, and after wiping the tears away with a kerchief, Kaoru turned to me, a sheepish look in her eyes. "U-Um… I hope it's not too much trouble, but do you mind asking Shirogane-san about what he said…?"

"Not at all," I answered with a gentle smile. "I'm actually wondering why he said that, as well."

"Th-Thank you…"

Before I even left, though, I quickly bent down and leaned towards Rise's ear. "I'll meet you at your house later, okay?" I whispered, as low as possible so the other two girls didn't hear.

At first, she looked a little surprised when I mentioned it - _Had she forgotten our plans…? I sure hope not_ - but after at least half a second, she smiled slightly and nodded. "Right."

I stood again and turned on my heel. "Well, wish me luck, I guess." _I'm gonna need it. I highly doubt he'll want to answer my questions._

* * *

Naoto had taken a different route from the usual one towards the shopping district, so it didn't surprise me that I came to an entirely unfamiliar area. Although it didn't take too long to catch up to him, he was still a little ways away from where he had his little outburst. He wasn't running per se, but he was walking a little faster than expected.

The detective slowly came to a stop when I called out his name and turned halfway around to look at me. He still had that glowering look in his eyes, and the fact that it was me who caught his attention didn't help it. "Can I help you with something?" he asked when I reached him.

"Just what the heck was _that_?" I panted.

"'That'…?" He remembered quickly. "Oh, that. I hadn't realized you overheard."

"I'm pretty sure everyone in the school overheard." I stood up from my hunched over stature and gazed down at the boy. "Do you think what you said to her was really necessary?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"…What?"

"Those girls have been nuisances ever since I started attending this school. They had been coming up to me, requesting that I spend time with them, practically every single day."

"Then couldn't you have told them nicely to stop doing that?"

"Of course I did. But they wouldn't listen to me at all. And after so many failed attempts to try and reason with them, I felt I may as well… force them out of my way."

"Force them…?"

"Yes. They wouldn't have listened any other way."

"…Causing her to break down crying like that, only because they were just annoyances…?" _That's… That's just low…_ "Don't you think you overdid that? You could've just ignored them and went on your way."

"I had to stop them permanently. Otherwise, I'd be stopping to deal with them when I have somewhere important I need to be." And then- _…That is one angry face._ "Just like what I'm doing now."

…_Oh_. "I… I see." _Shit that's right, he was in a rush to get somewhere, wasn't he?_

"Is that all you wanted to ask? I must be going now."

…_Well that __**was**__ all, but now I'm kinda curious…_ "Where did you say you had to go?"

Naoto huffed slightly and started walking away again. "You'll find out soon."

And before I knew it, he had walked around a corner and out of my sight. "…Ehh? The heck is that supposed to mean?"

* * *

Rise was already at her home and sitting in a living room chair by the time I arrived. She told me that Kaoru brought Miyoko home, and that the latter had stopped crying shortly after I left. I sighed in relief and internally wondered if she would change at all because of it, but figured that it'd take more than that to change a person's character.

Laying my suitcase/backpack/thing on the table in the kitchen, I settled myself on a cushion that was situated at the smaller table in front of the TV. Today was a long (and painful) day, and I needed to at least focus on nothing for a short while to relieve myself of any discomfort. Granted, I still had a headache, but as long as there was a TV to help my brain turn to mush, I didn't really care.

"I'm hungry."

My paradise shattered before my eyes.

"And… I take it you don't want to get that yourself."

"Thanks for offering!"

"I didn't."

"You did earlier."

"That doesn't mean anything. What's in the past stays in the past."

"But there's no one else here to fix me anything."

"Doesn't mean I have to make you dinner."

"Huh. Some boyfriend you are. Can't even bother to make dinner for your girlfriend in her time of need."

"May I remind you that this is basically my time of need as well?"

"Yeah, but yours isn't as severe as mine. I can hardly walk."

"But that's just walking. You'd be able to do other things, wouldn't you?"

"I'd rather not. The less pain I feel, the less you feel, so it's only natural that _you_ should make our dinner."

"Why don't we just order something instead?"

"It would be a waste of money. And plus, you need the proper atmosphere for eating out. Like a Aiya's."

"Then we should go there."

"Again, I can't walk."

"I'll carry you."

"Not in public."

"Haven't I done that before? Carry you through a city I mean."

"I think it was dark then. And not even in Inaba."

"Oh yeah…"

"Why are you so bent on not trying to cook?"

Sheepishly, I turned around to face her. "Um… I'm not a very good cook. Best thing I can make are sandwiches. I've never tried to improve on my cooking over the stove, and the simplest things are challenging to make. Like rice, for instance."

"Rice?" Rise seemed baffled, and a slight giggle escaped her lips. In a few short seconds, she started laughing a _bit_ too hard for my liking. "Rice is so easy to make, though! How can you screw up on _that_?"

"White rice isn't exactly something my family would constantly eat, so I don't have an prior knowledge of it. …Actually, a lot of the ingredients for dishes here aren't even in my hometown."

"Well, I think it's about time you started learning how to actually cook." Carefully, she stood up on her feet and started towards the kitchen. "And I think I'll be your trainer."

"Hey, wait, you said you couldn't walk."

Her head turned to me, and smugness was written all over her face. "And you believed me."

Another imaginary cooking pan landed painfully on my head.

* * *

"So, all it takes is rinsing it and boiling it? That's it?"

"That's it. But you've also got to watch out for it, or else it'll burn up. But I'm sure you knew that already."

"Well obviously I would. It's common knowledge that everything burns if left near heat for too long."

"Water doesn't."

"It boils, same thing."

"What about air?"

"That-"

"Ice doesn't burn, either, it melts."

"Will you stop proving me wrong?"

"If you insist," she sang mockingly. She turned the burner down slightly and sat down at the kitchen table. "So. Now that I'm thinking about it, let me get this straight. You've been living off of nothing but sandwiches ever since you first came to Japan?"

I sat down directly across from her. "Not necessarily. Sometimes I make one for lunches, whether for at home or school, but there are other times where the meals are provided for me."

"Provided for you?" Rise tilted her head slightly. "By who? And I don't think I've seen you eat anything _other_ than sandwiches and school food for lunch…"

"Ah, well, see, my parents and I got this agreement on the go with the inn's staff and chefs. They provide me with dinner everyday, unless I tell them otherwise, and an additional 1500 yen is added on to the normal room fees."

"Ohh, sounds like a good deal to me. But… why is it that I've never heard of this until now?"

"Three reasons: it wasn't necessary to bring up, I was never given the opportunity to talk about it, and you didn't ask."

"…Well why would I? It's not something someone would just randomly talk about."

"Exactly."

"…Anyhow, it sounds pretty sweet. Just 1500 extra and you get free meals… You and your family must really think ahead."

"Not… really. It's basically known throughout my old neighborhood that I can't cook. We were just preparing for the obvious. I'm still surprised that the inn actually agreed to that offer."

"And that's something I find strange. I don't think any places like that - hotels, resorts, lodgings - do that. At all."

"Maybe… some strings were pulled?"

"Maybe…" She chuckled slightly. "But, why complain about it? It's such a good offer."

"That depends on how you feel, I guess."

Rise blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the free meal is good and everything, but… I'm not liking having to pay the extra money. It's a daily thing, and the 1500 added onto it just makes things worse."

"But, you had tons of money for the trip to Port Island, right? You should have plenty now."

"It's… complicated. Some of that money was saved up from when I was younger, and more was added on from my mother. While she does send me money every week or so, it's not always a lot. Not always enough to pay a night in the inn on its own…"

"So you also have to use your personal savings and your earnings from Junes, too, right?"

"Right. It's… really draining, to say the least."

A small smile grew on her lips. "You know, you could have always come to me for some extra funds."

"Oh, really?" My excitement quickly left just as fast as it had appeared. "But… I thought you said you had to save it up for the off chance of an emergency?"

"Well…" Rise solemnly glanced back to the oven. "I know I said it was for when I go out to other cities and get lost or something, but… I promised myself - and Grandma - that I wouldn't go anywhere outside the town on my own anymore. If I ever _were_ to go out, then it would only be with someone I know well and trust, like you, or Souji-senpai, or one of the others…"

I _was _about to question why she had singled out Souji from the rest of the group like that, but a realization shoved those thoughts out of my cranium. Rise was still terrified of what happened that one time in Okina City. Although it's true that practically anyone would be traumatized from having to experience that (attempted or otherwise), she hadn't shown any signs at all of still lingering on it for a long time. I couldn't even remember the last time she even brought it up.

I was worried now. Worried that I had failed in my promise to protect her and guard her from those trains of thoughts. Scared that by doing nothing, I had been hurting her more.

I felt stupid. Idiotic. _How had I not noticed until now…? How the bloody __**hell**__ did I go on for a frickin' __**month **__without realizing that?_ Was she not speaking about it because I hadn't brought it up? Or maybe she was _trying_ to forget it, but it didn't work…?

I pushed those supposed reasons aside and focused on the matter at hand. Right now, Rise was hurting (mentally), and I felt the need to help her as much as I could. She was after all one of, if not _the_, most important person in my life. I'd sooner kill someone than watch her suffer like this. And I'm not going to be starting any new murder cases any time soon.

"Rise-chan…"

She turned back to me, and there seemed to be virtually no emotion on her face. Her eyes stared right through me, only blinking occasionally.

"What?"

This way, she seemed so… unyielding. Adamant. As if an explosion could startle her. As if even the Japanese Kami couldn't shake her up.

"You're still…" I quickly tried to use the most delicate words I could think of. "…scared… aren't you…?"

On the table, her hands immediately balled into fists. She lowered her head, having her bangs cover most of her face so she could hide it from me. "Of course I am…" she said, slowly through clenched teeth. "I never know when that man… or _any_ man… will just jump out and try to grab me… Every time I'm by myself, with absolutely no one around, I get so nervous…" Her knuckles whitened, and a small streak of water fell down her cheek. "I hate it…"

_Oh __**great**__ now she's crying… Way to go, Ricketts. Way to frickin' go._

I hated having to make her mood worse, but I just had to know. "Why… didn't you tell me? Why did you keep that to yourself?"

Another tear. "I-I didn't want you to worry…"

…_Oh. That's why. _"Like it or not, this is my problem as much as yours." I placed both of my hands on hers and squeezed. Slowly but surely, her head rose to look at me. Despite only a few tears falling, her eyes were threatening to overflow with them. "It wasn't just you who got involved in this. You don't need to try and keep me from being worried… You don't need to hide it, just to make me feel better."

She let her head fall down again. Shoulders shaking, breath wheezy, she only managed to whisper, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I said. I stood from the table and circled over to her, pulling into a hug. And as soon as I did, she stood and buried her face into my shirt. "You had good intentions, I know. It's just… I wish you had come to me instead of keeping it to yourself…"

Rise started apologising copiously, but all of it was muffled out. She quickly realized that was getting nowhere, so she looked right back into my eyes. "I-I just… I care for you. Deeply… I didn't want you to be burdened by me… I thought I'd only be a nuisance if I kept at you acting like this… And that you might blame yourself for it…"

As punishment for simply _thinking_ a thought like that, I squeezed her.

"Oww! W-What-"

"How could you possibly think you'd be a nuisance to me?" I almost shouted, but managed to restrain myself. "I'd sooner consider _myself _as a bigger annoyance than you. Nothing you do irritates me, even if you wanted to try to get through this alone. I'm just a little disappointed that you didn't tell me…"

"I'm so-"

"Say 'I'm sorry' again and I'll be forced to tickle you."

Her mouth clamped shut and, with slight humor in her eyes, nodded hastily.

"And another thing," I continued, "the only time that was my fault was when I got stabbed. There was no other part that we knew would happen. I don't think that what happened was my fault, or yours. We were just… unlucky."

Rise devoured my words and, gently, a small smile appeared. Again, she lowered her head and allowed more tears to fall. "Thank you… for not getting upset… and for understanding…"

"Of course. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I got angry at you?"

"A terrible one."

"Exactly. So don't worry about me getting mad, because I won't. I promise."

She looked back up, and I saw that even more tears were rolling down her face. "Thank you so much…"

I bent down to her eye level and laughed. "C'mon now, enough with the crying already," I said, wiping the water off her cheeks. "I swear you've been doing that a lot recently."

"You think so?"

"Maybe. Or perhaps I'm thinking too much of it."

Her smile deepened, and she wiped away any remaining tears. "I think you are."

We embraced again, and we probably would've stayed there like that for a while if it wasn't for a weird smell in the air.

"What's that smell?" Rise asked, looking around the room while sniffing.

"I dunno…" I answered. "Smells kinda… burnt."

Realization in three, two-

"Oh shit, the rice," I said.

"Oh crap!" Rise pushed me aside and retrieved the pot from the stove. She stole a glance at its contents, sniffed it slightly, and put it on the counter. "Actually, it might still be good... Quick, pass me a set of chopsticks."

"Uh-" They were in a small container right in the middle of the table. I opened a pack. split them, and handed them to her.

Rise picked up some of the rice and popped them into her mouth. Her eyes widened in delight. "Yeah… Yeah! These are good. Some of the ones on the bottom mightn't be, but we'll have to throw them out."

"Ahh, that's good." _My own creation, made to perfection. I am an __**awesome **__chef._ "So, we'll be having rice for dinner then."

"Not exactly."

"Huh?"

Placing the chopsticks on the counter, Rise walked over to the pantry and opened it. She started rummaging through the various food stuffs inside, and after grabbing a few things, she stood back up. The ingredients in her arms were all unidentifiable, and even when she spread them out onto the counter I still couldn't tell what they were.

"We'll be making one of my all-time favorite dishes: chakin-sushi." Noticing my confused face, she went on to elaborate. "It's a pouch of thin omelette filled with sushi rice, basically." She jerked her thumb back to the slightly-burnt rice. "We can't use that rice, though. We'll have to start over from scratch and actually prepare sushi rice."

_I saw a picture of chakin-sushi somewhere before… I think. Or that could've been anything._ "It sounds good, for just being filled with rice."

"_Sushi_ rice."

"Sushi rice, whatever. There's no difference." Rise quirked an eyebrow and giggled. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Is that what you really think?"

"Wha-"

Rise cleared her throat and placed her fists on her hips. "Sushi rice _may_ be your standard rice starting off, but you have to mix it with a dressing made of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and sometimes kombu and sake. Before you put it in with the sushi, you have to cool it to room temperature. Otherwise it'll get really sticky while it's being seasoned. _Furthermore-_"

"Alright alright! I get it, sushi rice is different from regular rice!"

"Do you?" Rise walked up to me and looked me straight in the eye. "Do you really?"

"Yes! I do!" _How'd she manage to make a complete 180 in terms of emotions? And why am I suddenly feeling a bit more pain?_

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, I am! Why are you so defensive about this anyway? It's just rice!"

The ex-idol narrowed her eyes at me before turning around towards the kitchen's exit. "Change of plans: _you're_ making it by yourself."

"Say what."

"You heard me." Rise started walking out of the kitchen. "Have it made for when I get out of the bath. I expect perfection."

"B-But I don't even know how-"

She stopped at the doorway and turned her head slightly. "There's a cook book somewhere in the cupboards, next to the fridge."

There were a hell of a lot of cupboards next to the refrigerator. "Will I even have time to finish it before you get out?"

"I take long baths."

"And... I thought _I_ was supposed to run the bath for you."

"Changed my mind."

Silence.

The increasing pain in my head told me that something was wrong with Rise. But then the obvious answer came to mind, which would explain her sudden three or four mood swings.

Sighing, I nodded. "I got it. Go take your bath. I'll… try my best with it."

Rise's sullen face eased up, and the slightest of smiles showed up. "Thanks," she said, and she continued on her way.

When I heard the bathroom door close, I turned to the cupboards. "Now then… Let's find that book…"

* * *

Chakin-sushi actually isn't hard to make at all. Just like Rise said, there wasn't much to do with it. Even though I had to use more rice to make it work for the meal, I didn't mind in the least. After putting the finishing touches on it, I placed them in the microwave, ready to be heated up at the push of a button, because only God knows how long Rise would take to finish up her bath.

Feeling that I deserved a reward for my amazing cooking skills, I delved into the fridge and pulled out a can of soda. There were several other cans, so I was sure that this particular one wouldn't be missed. I opened it and took a sip of the liquid.

"Hmm… Orange flavored." I licked my lips to get at the leftovers. "Not bad at all."

I took a glance around the kitchen. Nothing much to do, seeing as, a) the Kujikawas didn't seem to be as big video game fans as I was, and b) it was the kitchen. Not much to do in a kitchen except cook and clean, and a maid I ain't.

A slave for my girlfriend, maybe. But not a maid.

_Oh. There's a TV in there._

So I sat down at that little table - _What the hell do people call these things anyways?_ - and turned it on. Being too lazy to flick through channels, I kept it on the one it was on: the night-time news. I didn't particularly care for what was being discussed, but I wound up listening anyways.

"Good evening, and welcome to Niteline's special Nitewatch Report," the announcer opened with.

_Night? Already? …Shit, would you look at that. It's already dark out._

'_**Being a slave can do that to people.'**_

_Shut up about that. It's not like I actually am. It was just a joke._

'_**Yet you still made the meal without question. Not very good, but you made it nonetheless.'**_

_I haven't even tried them yet. How do you know they're not good?_

'_**Because it was **_**you**_** who made them.'**_

_That technically counts as you, too, you know._

'_**I didn't speak at all when you were making them. I helped in no way.'**_

_Keep your dragon mouth shut, you piece of-_

"-Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane, whose handsome looks are sweeping the nation."

Spit take!

"Say what!"

Ignoring the newly made stain on the table (probably because he couldn't _see_ it), the announcer continued on with his report: "Thanks for being on the show," he said, addressing a strikingly familiar looking teenager opposite to him.

"No, no, the pleasure is all mine," Naoto replied, waving off the words.

"First," the announcer said, "congratulations to you and the police for your recent arrest of the culprit. It was well-know that there were a lot of mysteries surrounding this case, and you did a great job clearing them up."

"What!" I shouted, slamming my hands on the table and thankfully not disrupting the soda. "_He's_ taking the credit? _We_ were the ones to actually capture the freak! …A-Although it _was_ a thankless job…"

"I'd hesitate to say that the matter is 'cleared up,' as such," Naoto reported.

"…Huh?"

"It's true that our suspect was behind Mr. Morooka's unfortunate death." Naoto closed his eyes as he began to recall. "But when I cast my eye over the case as a whole, I detect a few things that seem out of place."

"Oh… Like what?" the announcer asked, intrigued.

"Unfortunately, I cannot divulge details at this time," Naoto replied immediately. "But this matter claimed the lives of three people. Hence, I believe even the smallest inconsistency must be investigated."

Baffled, the announcer hesitantly responded. "I… I see. I have to say, this is a surprise in light of the police's official statement." Pulling on his collar to cool himself down, he continued. "N-Now for our next segment, 'The Detective Prince's True Identity,' where Naoto-kun tells us a little bit about himself. Amazingly, the Detective Prince has solved a whopping 24 cases. 16 of them were-"

"W-W-What the heck!"

"GAH!" Rise's sudden appearance caused me to whirl around in fright. She stood before me in a simple pair of pink shorts, an orange tank-top, and with her red-brown hair still wet and flowing down her back. "W-W-When the hell did you get there?"

"Just then," she said quickly. "B-But, why is Naoto-kun on TV?"

Glancing back, the two of them were now talking about the various cases Naoto solved. One case involved the murder of a serial killer, hoisted by his own petard by the apparent friend of one of his victims. _Irony, thy name is… Um. Well, whatever._

"He was… saying that there are some 'inconsistencies' with the case." I used the appropriate yet exaggerated air-quotes.

"Inconsistencies?" Rise slumped down onto the floor next to me. "Of what kind...?"

"He didn't say. He said he can't 'divulge details at this time.'" Again, air-quotes.

"…Well that's stupid. The case is over with and he knows that. Was that the only reason he's on air?"

"They're going on about his previous life now, and about a bunch of other cases he's solved." I tuned into the report again. This specific case had something to do with spaghetti noodles, a scientific skeleton model, and a lawn mower. I decided not to listen to that.

The gears in my head started turning round and round at that specific moment. Naoto claimed the case isn't over with. In fact, he full-heartedly believed that it's far from finished. Not three days before this day, the guilt built up within me collapsed and I wound up spilling all of our secrets to him. He knows that people who had become famous on TV get targeted by the killer, and even if he had figured that out beforehand, my explanation might've just increased his suspicions.

Naoto wants the case solved, and even though it is, he doesn't believe it. He's dead-set on trying to prove us wrong.

And the best way to do so, he believes, is to act as bait and lure the killer out.

"Holy shit," I breathed. At Rise's 'What,' I replied, "Naoto _really_ thinks this isn't over. He's using himself as live bait."

"Bait? For who?" she asked, turning to me. "Everyone knows the killer's caught. Who's he being bait for?"

"Um. Well, that's- …P-Point taken."

"You're probably worrying too much. Unless the killer had accomplices - which he didn't - then there's no need to even think about it anymore."

"…Hmm. I guess you're right." The news report had decided to change to something else now. Naoto had left the camera's view, and was probably on his way back to his home.

"By the way."

"Yeah?"

"Why is there an orange soda stain on the table."

_Oh jinkies I forgot about that._ "I'll get on that right away."

"Thank you, dear."

* * *

The chakin-sushi was deemed edible by Rise's superb culinary judging techniques (her words, not mine), but in my opinion they were pretty damn tasty. I also finished copying down the geography notes, the actual reason I ad decided to come over to her house. It took a while, and my wrist started cramping real bad after, but they were also done to perfection.

Rise's grandmother showed up not long after that. She was a bit surprised to see me there, but she welcomed me with open arms (or should we have been welcoming her back…?). Unfortunately, it _was_ beginning to get late, so I had to leave and return to the inn. Rise was disappointed, but she nevertheless bid me farewell.

Almost the entire trip back to my room was uneventful, save for one little thing: I had a run in with my homeroom teacher.

"Oh, Andrew-kun," Ms. Omukay said in surprise, oddly standing up from beside a bush. "I didn't expect for you to live this way."

"Really?" I asked. "I thought you knew I lived at the Amagi Inn?"

"Ohh, yes, that's right…" She chuckled lightly, "I had completely forgot about that."

I raised a conspicuous eyebrow. "And here I thought all the homeroom teachers knew everything there was about their students."

"Most students," she said with a hand wave. "Only the good ones. The bad ones we ignore."

"Ouch, Sensei, that hurts." We shared our laughter, before I said, "So, what brings you out here at this time of night?"

"My cat's missing."

"Cat?"

"Yes. She's always going out on her own, with no goal in mind. Normally she comes back before the sun sets, but today she has yet to return."

"This is the first I've heard of it. I didn't know you owned a cat."

"Oh, did I say she was mine? I meant my… friend's. Yes, she's gone back to her home for a little while, but it seemed her pet wanted to stay here for a little while longer, as amusingly as that sounds. So I offered to take care of her until my friend returns from her hometown."

"I see, I see," I said with a nod. "Just don't become too attached. You might want to get one or more after she's gone." _Wow, it feels awkward giving my teacher advice._

"Oh, don't worry. I already know of one crazy cat lady. Or, should I say pet lady…?" She shook her head, "Anyways, I have no intention of becoming like her."

A bit more chuckling from us. _All this mentioning of cats and pets makes me want one now… Didn't Ms. Omukay say something about cats before, though…? Something about her friend's daughter being like one…? When was that, the first? Wasn't that also when she-_

"Holy crap!" I shouted upon realization.

"Hmm? Something wrong?" My homeroom teacher tilted her head.

"Ms. Omukay!"

"Yes?"

Quickly, I looked around the area. Nobody was around, but even so I silently said, "You know something about Rise-chan and I, don't you?"

Not even taking a second to think about the question, she replied mischievously "I may. And I may not."

"Tell me!"

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to your homeroom teacher?" she asked, hand folded beneath her breast.

I supposed she was right, so I took a breath and calmed myself. "Please, tell me. You know something, don't you? Please…"

Ms. Omukay huffed out a breath and turned to the side. "It isn't something you should trouble yourself over." Suddenly, her voice had changed from sounding innocent and light-hearted to ominous and heavy. All of the calming aura that seemed to emanate from her vanished within an instant, now replaced by the feeling of anxiety and mystery. Or it was probably just her voice giving off that vibe.

"What is it?" I demanded. I wasn't having her evade the question again, not after last time. "What is it that's connecting us?"

Turning to me, Ms. Omukay's face hardened. "Just do us all a favor."

I blinked. "W-What?"

"Don't go getting yourselves killed anytime soon."

Again, I blinked. "W-What does thaGAAHH!"

Pressure around my left leg caused me to scream in fright and jump to the side. I was just barely able to see, but there was a cat staring right up at me. It meowed (nyaned, or whatever) and walked over to my teacher.

"_There_ you are!" As if nothing ever happened, the angelic voice that I heard everyday at school returned. Ms. Omukay bent down and picked up the small cat. "I've been looking all over for you, you know! Ohh, you're master's gonna be very upset with you when she finds out!"

"O-Oi…" My attempts at getting her attention failed, sadly to say. She was too occupied with the feline newcomer to even acknowledge me anymore.

However, one thing _was_ cleared up: my homeroom teacher certainly _did_ know something about… whatever it was that connected myself and Rise. What she knew exactly, I didn't know. _Hopefully I'll be able to get more information out of her soon…_

But her cryptic warning left a bad feeling in my gut. I obviously didn't plan on being offed any time in the near future, so Ms. Omukay didn't need to fret over that.

Now that I thought about it, it _was_ pretty vague. What did it mean? Would something bad happen if either of us kicks the bucket? What, would everyone grieve themselves to death or something? Or would Rise and I be kicked out of some sort of 'game' the gods are playing and effectively screw up the whole world? That would be a lot of pressure on my shoulders…

"Andrew."

I got snapped out of my stupor by Ms. Omukay's deeper voice. She had turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at me. The cat was still in her arms, and was spread out across them, probably already have fallen asleep.

"Y-Yes?"

"Remember what I said."

"…R-Right."

The faintest of smiles appeared on her lips. "See you tomorrow then." And with that she walked away.

…_That teacher's kinda sorta creepy in some ways. But… Might as well do my best and stay alive. If she does know something, and she's trying to help me, then I should do as she says…_

And was it just me, or were there two tails sprouting out of that cat's ass?

I put the blame on the darkness for muddling my vision and continued on to the inn.

* * *

**~Tuesday, September 13~  
****~8:10 AM~**

* * *

Coincidentally and conveniently, Yukiko and I met up with Rise, Yosuke and Chie on our way to school the following morning. For some reason, Kanji wasn't there. Normally he and Rise would walk together to school, since they live on the same street, but surprisingly he wasn't with her. Everyone immediately decided he was still asleep, though, and wouldn't be at school for another hour or so.

It wasn't long after that that we ran into Souji walking a little ways ahead of us. Rise called out to him and he generously stopped and waited for us to catch up.

As soon as morning greetings concluded, Chie began to speak. "Hey, did you see the show on TV last night? Naoto-kun was on!"

"Oh, I wasn't the only one to catch that then?" Souji asked. Everyone else nodded their consensus.

"That thing about the Detective Prince solving the case?" Yosuke confirmed. With a chuckle, he added, "C'mon, we're the ones who actually caught the killer."

"I wish everyone knew that," I sighed. "I hate doing thankless jobs. An award, or at the very least some appreciation would be nice."

"But the police were the ones who identified the suspect, and he was cooperating with them on it, right?" Yukiko asked. "So it's true that he helped solve the case."

"I'm kinda surprised, though," Chie announced. "I didn't think he was the type to go after the spotlight like that."

_There may be another reason to that, unfortunately._

"Good morning."

If I had been Souji, and he walked right up behind me, Naoto would have helped me with my regular morning restroom needs. The detective walked up to us in what appeared to not be the standard school uniform. Instead, he wore a bright, light blue shirt with a yellow tie and dark pants. His trademark detective's cap was with him as well.

"I've been waiting for you all. There's something I needed to discuss with you regarding the case."

"Of course there is," I muttered to myself. Chie and Yukiko, the only two to know of what I said to Naoto, looked at each other uneasily.

Yosuke, probably not knowing where this was heading, asked, "Discuss? Dude, we'll be late if we talk too long…" It was then that he arrived at an obvious conclusion. "Hey, where's your uniform?"

"Could you please indulge my current theory on the matter?" Naoto asked, completely ignoring Yosuke's secondary question.

"What is it…?" Souji asked, somewhat warily. Unlike Mr. Hanamura, I'm pretty sure he had some sort of clue as to what Naoto was talking about.

Naoto turned his back to us and began speaking. "First, as regards commonalities between the victims, all of them were kidnapped before they were murdered. The victims were all locals who had been the focus of recent media attention, becoming suddenly well-know…" Turning his head slightly, he eyed us suspiciously, more me than anyone else. "That is the most likely scenario."

I gulped.

"I don't believe there's anything intrinsically unique about the victims themselves." He turned back around. "…Haven't you all come to the same conclusion?"

Souji, without hesitation, nodded and said. "Yeah, we did." Cautiously watching his underclassmen, he added. "Where are you going with this?"

"Please, allow me to state my point," Naoto said. "Will you admit that a number of you fit these identical circumstances?"

…_!_

I was pretty sure everyone else had the same thought.

"There was a long interval between the second and third deaths in this case," Naoto continued. "But after I applied the aforementioned criteria, I discovered several similar disappearances had taken place." He closed his eyes and sucked in some air. "Yukiko Amagi. Kanji Tatsumi. Andrew Ricketts. Rise Kujikawa." He opened them again. "All of you disappeared shortly after being shown on TV… Either you escaped death somehow, or you faked your own disappearances in order to divert attention from yourselves. Since some of you had ties to the victims, there came a point where I suspected one of you must be the culprit."

"You thought one of _us_ was the killer?" Chie nearly shouted, her eyes and voice filled with disgust. "You can't be serious!"

Naoto simply nodded. "This was a prior theory, since discarded. Putting together everything I've learned until this moment, I believe exactly the opposite."

"The… opposite?" I asked.

"You aren't the culprits," Naoto said knowingly. "You may, in fact, be the only ones with the means to pursue the true perpetrator… Seen as a joining of forces between the rescued, everything falls into place."

…_This guy is too damn smart for his own good… And he talks too much for his own good._

"Of course, this is all speculation."

…_It's not. I freakin' told him. He's just saying that to… cover me up? …Or he still doesn't believe anything I said…_

Again, Naoto turned his back to us. "There is, in fact, a flaw in the theory. It doesn't account for the third incident… Mr. Morooka's murder."

"…How so?" Souji asked. He may have easily know the answer, being our leader, and thus easily being one of the smartest between the eight of us. He must have just wanted to confirm Naoto's suspicion.

"He has never been broadcast on television, and neither did he ever disappear. We must also consider the condition of his corpse. The first two victims are listed with an unknown cause of death… But Mr. Morooka died of an easily identifiable blunt force trauma to the occipital cranium."

"The _what?_" Rise was forced to ask.

"His head."

"…Oh."

Continuing on, "The police have not satisfactorily resolved this discrepancy, yet they are desperate to close the case. Further action will be necessary to obtain some sort of decisive evidence."

That got some gears turning. "Further action…?" Chie repeated, tilting her head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, whatever the outcome…" Naoto said, (once again) turning around and disregarding Chie's question. "The evidence should come to light."

_He __**really**__ wants to get this out of the way doesn't he? But now that I think about it, what he said probably __**is **__true… Mr. Morooka didn't disappear, he was killed outright. And there isn't actually a lot of evidence pointing to Mitsuo… Geez, what if he's right…? What if the killer's actually still at large…?_

"You said something interesting to me not long ago," Naoto said, snapping me out of my daze. Before saying anything else, he started to walk behind us, deciding to leave right then and there.

"Hey, where're you going?" Yosuke asked.

Naoto stopped and, without turning, said, "This is not a game for me either…"

"Naoto-kun?" said Yukiko.

And not another word escaped him. Naoto moved on down the street, leaving six bewildered teenagers to walk on to school by themselves.

* * *

**~3:30 PM~**

* * *

"You didn't mention anything I said, earlier today."

"Everything you had said was false. Fabrications. Untruths."

"Alright, I get it. But just think about it for a second: if it were all true, wouldn't that make sense? Everyone faced their other selves and got to where they are now. Like Kanji - he was a social outcast before coming to terms with himself, and now he can openly admit that he likes the hobbies he has. …Well, not exactly openly, but you get the picture."

A heavy sigh, and Naoto eyed me warily. By chance, I had met up with him right in front of Junes. I was scheduled to work today, and would've gotten to the store earlier, but I had another encounter with Ms. Omukay once again. It was as if she didn't even remember we spoke last night, but I assumed it was just a clever lie. For whatever reason, she was hiding something important from me.

But enough about that. Naoto had suddenly exited the store with a bag of groceries in one of his hands. He, too, was surprised to see me, but not as much as I was to him. He knew I worked there, after all.

"While it _is _true that your reasons could very well answer the missing blanks," Naoto said heavily, "there's absolutely no possible way that it is true. And that is the simple reason as to why I did not bring it up."

"Because science can't prove it's possible?"

"I made no mentioning of science being a part of this, but essentially yes."

"Huh… And here I thought you were just covering up for me."

"There would be nothing to cover up, because it was nothing but a hyperbole."

And that's when I got fed up. "Dude, when are you gonna drop that? You've been saying since Saturday that it's nothing but lies and stuff. Lemme tell you something: it's not."

The two of us angrily stared at each other, neither of us willing to give in before the other. Childish, I know, but stuff like that happens.

The Teddie conspicuously popped out from the sliding doors, today in his costume. "Hey, Andy, you're late! Yosuke's already in there and waiting for you!"

Thanks to the bear, I lost the staring contest, although Naoto probably didn't consider it as such. Speaking of which, the detective was already walking past me. He muttered under his breath, 'I have no time for this' and left the scene.

"Geez… He's really pissed at me, isn't he?" I asked no one in particular.

"Judging by that he looks like he is," Teddie agreed, waddling up to me. "I don't really know why, but I also don't really care." He grabbed onto my arm and started pulling me towards Junes's entrance. "Now, c'mon! No time to waste! Yosuke told me if you weren't in there in one minute he's cutting you one month's salary!"

"…Oh, the hell he is! No one takes away my money!"

* * *

I was given the simple yet menial of restocking shelves and, afterwards, to clean up any messes or spilt milk I found around the store or was ordered to clean. Taking on jobs like these is the perfect time to sort out any thoughts that lead to confusion.

And where I stood at the moment, I was most certainly confused.

It was true that my friends and I personally entered the TV world, located and found the perpetrator in his pixelated castle, beat the stuffing out of his Shadow, and brought him back to the real world to be apprehended by the police. We made damn sure that he was the one, and our efforts paid off, even if we received no credit for doing the deed.

However, the facts that Naoto presented to us showed that there was a difference between the first two victims and the third one. Actually, more like a big difference. And more than one, in fact. Putting them together, it seemed as if someone other than the kidnapper/murderer was behind Mr. Morooka's untimely demise. It added up nicely with the other facts, despite none of us wishing it actually did.

But even with these statements introduced to us, we still caught the guy with our own hands. Hell, Mitsuo even admitted to murdering Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi. The motive was a bit questionable, but I'm betting that no innocent person would plead guilty to multiple murders.

But Naoto's argument still held strong. Morooka didn't appear on TV, regular broadcasting or otherwise. He wasn't reported missing before his death, as well. Also, whereas the first two victims 'died of unnatural causes,' Senpai's homeroom teacher died because of a blow to the head.

But, we got Mitsuo, who claimed to be the murderer, arrested…

But, Naoto's theories, even if he's willing to believe me or not, make sense…

…

I felt a massive headache coming on. One not powered by mystical connections.


	32. FINISHED

Yikes… I never thought I'd actually be saying this.

I'm not about to mince words: I think I'm going stop writing this story altogether. I know whoever's reading this will be disappointed, but please know that I have an actual life, and at the moment that life is more important than writing.

There are a few reasons why I'm doing this. One is, like I said, my own life. I've got at least one hundred tons of homework and schoolwork to catch up in, and writing this story will just take time away from it all.

Secondly, I don't actually like where the plot's going. I mean, the canon Persona 4 plot is brilliant, but my own, made-up story is severely lacking in comparison. My planned ending to the Aeon Social Link is weak, and plus it might make it seem like a self-insertion of sorts.

The third reason, and this is a big one: I've lost a lot of interest in Persona 4. I hardly play the game anymore; the last time I did, I had to force myself to do so. If I were to write any more chapters, they'd be half-assed and wouldn't have enough effort put into them, and I _know _you guys wouldn't want that.

I realize that my plans for the future (regarding the cross-over) are now being destroyed, but right now I have to focus on schoolwork than my own projects. If anyone's interested, I could share you the ideas I had, but I won't be posting them on the internet anytime soon.

Oh, and in case anyone didn't realize it, I had posted a new story not too long ago, entitled _Omakes_. I know, I know, I'm stopping writing right after I posted something new, but what else can you do when you're four months behind everyone else in school?

I'm sorry that this is happening so suddenly, and I offer you all my deepest apologises.

And, thanks for reading up until now. It's been a blast.

~KJman456


	33. UPDATE

_**CHECK MY PROFILE, GUYS.**_

_**LIKE, SRSLY. NOW.**_


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